Spumoni
by ImaginationIsPower
Summary: What if Neo had an older twin sister? What if her name was an Italian ice cream too? Meet Spumoni, Neo's older twin sister. Cinder sends Spumoni on a mission to be a spy at Beacon Academy and as she spends her days there, she starts to change bit by bit. Hiatus...?
1. Chapter 1

N/A: Third story!

* * *

Prologue

"Moni, I have a mission for you," Cinder said. I nodded and listened. "I want you to enroll Beacon to be our eyes there. Make sure nothing suspicious happens and if something does, report to me." I responded, "Yes, Cinder." She dismissed me and I went home.

In the apartment where I lived, Neo was waiting for me. When I arrived, she looked happy to see me. I smiled and patted her head like I would always.

We relaxed on the couch and I spoke.

"Cinder wants me to enroll Beacon Academy," I said. Neo looked at me with her brown eyes, sending the message, "Why?" I took a deep breath. "She wants me to be her spy there," I responded. She looked sad. I put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, you can visit me on certain nights if you'd like. Besides, I hope your task doesn't bother you that much. I know that being a bodyguard is not the type of job you like." Neo smiled at me and we continued watching whatever was on TV.

A few minutes later, she fell asleep and I carried her to her bedroom. Once I finished tucking her into bed, I thought about my mission.

Let's get myself introduced first though.

My name is Spumoni, or Moni for short, and I'm the older twin sister of Neopolitan, or Neo for short. Half of my hair is mint green and half of my hair is chocolate brown. In the mint green half of my hair, I have strawberry pink streaks. I wear an outfit that's similar to Neo's, except it's mint green. My eyes vary from mint green, strawberry pink, and chocolate brown. I'm the same height as my younger twin sister and we share personalities and semblances. Though, my illusions last longer and Neo's teleportation goes smoother. As twins, we can understand each other even without talking.

There is and always will be one thing I despise about myself. The fact that I stole Neo's ability to speak. It always bothered me that she couldn't speak and only I could. It's something I'd never forgive myself for.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

When I arrived at the academy, there were many students; more than I could count.

I looked over to two girls. One wore a red hood and the other had long gold locks. Opening my umbrella, I walked to the Amphitheater.

This was going to one interesting mission.

* * *

N/A: See ya next chapter! Also, spumoni is an Italian ice cream that has strawberry, mint and chocolate ice cream in it! Leave a review if you'd like or follow if you'd like!


	2. Chapter 1-3

N/A: David Rose, Moni was born first and she has an older sister personality towards Neo. If I forgot to mention it, they're the same height. iloveyugiohGX93, you do know what a prologue is, right?

* * *

Chapter 1: The Shining Beacon

I closed my umbrella and paid attention to the Headmaster of Beacon, Ozpin.

"I'll… keep this brief," Ozpin said, clearing his throat to get students' attention. "You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction."

Students started to whisper, but he continued.

"You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

_I've already taken my first step_, I thought.

Glynda Goodwitch then stepped up as Headmaster Ozpin left.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed," she said.

It made me wonder why Ozpin left the last pieces to Professor Goodwitch, but I shook the thought off.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

That night, we gathered in the ballroom for bed.

I placed my sleeping mat to a place where no one was around. _Too bad Neo's not with me…_, I thought.

Just when I thought that I could have a peaceful night, I there was a ruckus.

"What in the world is going on over here?! Don't you realize some of us are trying to sleep?" I heard a girl say. "Oh, not you again!" two voices said this time. I got up and walked to four girls, probably the ones creating the ruckus.

"Shh! Guys, she's right! People are trying to sleep!" a girl with red hair said. I recognized her as the girl in the red hood. "In fact, I'm one of those people," I said, crossing my arms. "Oh! I'm so sorry!" the girl said as quietly as possible. "It's all-"

"Oh, _now_ you're on my side!" the white-haired girl interrupted. "I was always on your side!" replied the red-haired girl. I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Yeah, what's your problem with my sister? She's only trying to be nice!" said the blonde-haired girl. "She's a hazard to my health!" the white-haired girl replied.

I started walking back to my spot and I heard a book shut and it went dark.

Once I arrived back to my sleeping mat, I opened my scroll and typed in a message to Cinder.

"_Nothing yet."_ I typed. Hitting the send button, I then went to sleep.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Chapter 2: The First Step

I grabbed my umbrella from my locker and walked to the exit.

"Hey, aren't you that girl from last night?" a familiar voice asked. I turned around and met the silver eyes of the girl with red hair. "Yes," I answered. "I was wondering if you wanted to be friends… Is that okay…?" she asked. "I guess so. My name is Spumoni by the way. Call me Moni for short," I responded. "Well, nice to meet you, Moni. My name's Ruby Rose," Ruby said. _How fitting for the color_, I thought.

"And I'm Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's older sister," Yang said. "You guys don't really look like siblings but okay," I replied with a shrug.

"Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately," Glynda announced.

"We better get going," I said. "Yeah," Ruby agreed.

We approached a blonde guy who was slumping against a locker.

"Having some trouble there, lady-killer?" Yang asked him. "I don't understand. My dad said all women look for is confidence! Where did I go wrong?" he replied. Ruby offered her hand to him and he accepted it and was pulled back up. "'Snow Angel' _probably_ wasn't the best start," said Yang. "Come on, Jaune, let's go," Ruby said.

They went another way and I followed Yang.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

We arrived at Beacon Cliff and stood on silver tiles, overlooking a forest, while listening to Headmaster Ozpin.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest," he said. "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of 'teams.' Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... **today**," Professor Goodwitch told us. _Hopefully I get a good partner_, I thought.

"What? Ohhh…" I heard Ruby groan. "These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well," said Headmaster Ozpin. Ruby groaned again and I glanced at her for a moment. "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years," he continued. "**Whaaaat?!**" Ruby said, clearly shocked and sounding like her world just fell apart.

"See? I _told_ you-!" a girl in pink said to a guy in green.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you **will** die," Headmaster Ozpin interrupted.

Jaune laughed nervously and gulped.

"You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?" asked Headmaster Ozpin. "Yeah, um, sir?" said Jaune, raising his hand. "**Good**! Now, take your positions," Headmaster Ozpin said, ignoring him.

I stood firmly with a smug smile as one of my eyes turned mint green.

"Uh, sir? I've got, um... a question," Jaune said. The white-haired girl, Weiss Schnee, was launched off into the forest. "So, this landing... strategy thing... Uh, wha-what is it? You're, like, dropping us off or something?" asked Jaune. "No. You will be falling," Headmaster Ozpin responded. More of us were being launched off and it finally came to my turn. The last thing I heard from Jaune was, "Uh-huh... Yeah."

As I neared the ground, I used my teleportation semblance and teleported to the ground. When I say that my teleportation is less smoother than Neo's believe me.

I was slightly dizzy from teleporting but the dizziness disappeared in a few seconds.

Taking a deep breath, I opened my umbrella for shade and began heading north.

I ran into some creatures of Grimm, but they were easy.

I sheathed my sword with a psychopathic smile as I watched them dissolve.

"Haven't seen anyone yet," I quietly said to myself, continuing north.

Arriving at the temple, I just waited for people to come. Though I was probably waiting for someone who didn't have a partner.

A few minutes later, I noticed Yang and the girl with black hair who was named Blake Belladona. I waved to them and Yang waved back.

"Where's your partner?" Blake asked. "Don't have one yet," I replied. She looked around. "Chess pieces?" she said. "Mm-hm," I replied with a shrug. "Some of them are missing. Looks like we weren't the first ones here," Yang said. "Well, I guess we should pick one," replied Blake. "Might as well pick one too," I said.

We looked and studied each chess piece. "Hmmmm…" Yang said. "How about a cute little pony?" She picked it up and showed it to Blake. "Sure," replied Blake while smirking. I ended up taking a gold knight, the same as Yang and Blake's.

"That wasn't too hard!" Yang said, her and Blake walking to the center. "Well, it's not like this place is very difficult to find," Blake replied. They shared a smile and I quietly sighed, wishing that Neo was here with me.

Then we heard a scream that sounded like a girl's.

"Some girl is in trouble! Blake, Moni, did you hear that?" Yang asked us. "Yeah…" I replied. I looked over to Blake and she seemed to be staring at something in the sky. I followed her eyes and saw a huge Nevermore with Ruby and Weiss onboard.

"Blake, Moni, did you hear that?" Yang asked us again. "What should we do?"

"Oh dear…" I quietly said.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Chapter 3: Players and Pieces

"Heads uuuuuuuup!" Ruby yelled, about to crash into us from the sky. Then Jaune suddenly came flying through the air and crashed into her. They both crashed into a tree to the left of us and Ruby seemed to be dazed.

"Did your sister just fall from the sky?" Blake asked Yang. "I…" Yang started before she was interrupted by several loud crashing noises.

An Ursa came out, its claws swiping, and suddenly a pink blast of energy hitted its back. Then it crashed on the ground, revealing the girl in pink.

"YEEEE-HAAAAW!" she said. "Awwww... It's broken." Then the guy in green appeared, panting and leaning against the Ursa. "Nora! Please... Don't ever do that again," he panted. Then she ran off again and when he looked up, he frantically looked around. _She's deranged_, I thought.

Before I even knew it, she was behind me.

"Oooohh…" she said while staring at a gold rook. Nora grabbed it and started singing "_I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!_" while dancing. "Nora!" the guy in green yelled. She stopped dancing and saluted. "Coming, Ren!" she replied, skipping off to him.

"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake asked, arms crossed. "Isn't it obvious?" I replied. "I…" Yang started, only to be interrupted as a screech was heard from our right. Pyrrha Nikos, I recognized, was running from a Death Stalker, which was on her tail. _This is just great…_, I thought.

"Jaune!" she called. "Pyrrha!" Jaune called back from the tree.

When Ruby arrived, Yang said, "Ruby!" Ruby excitedly replied, "Yang!" They were about to hug, but then Nora came in between the two, surprising them. "Nora!" she said.

The Death Stalker continued to follow Pyrrha.

"Did she just run all the way here with a Death Stalker on her tail?" Blake asked, crossing her arms again. "Once again, isn't it obvious?" I replied. Yang suddenly growled with anger and her eyes flashed red. "**I can't take it anymore! Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something **_**crazy**_ **happens again?!**" she yelled. Two seconds passed with Yang taking deep breaths to calm down and Ren running over to a ditzy Nora.

"Umm… Yang?" Ruby said, tugging on her older sister's sleeve and pointing up. We looked up and saw the huge Nevermore with Weiss hanging onto it's claw.

"How could you leave me?!" we heard her call down to Ruby. "I said 'jump'!" Ruby shouted back. "She's gonna fall," Blake said. "She'll be fine," Ruby replied. "Pretty sure she's going to," I said. "She's falling," Ren said. Then we watched as Jaune jumped toward Weiss and catched her bridal-style, well except that they fell to the ground while hanging onto each other with wide eyes.

"Oh, noooooooo- Oomph!" Jaune said. He face planted into the dirt and Weiss fell into a seating position on his body. "My hero," she mockingly said. "My back…" groaned Jaune.

Pyrrha landed at our feet.

"Great! The gang's all here! Now we can die together!" Yang said. "Yay," I said boringly.

"Not if I can help it!" Ruby said. Then she rushed toward the Death Stalker while sounding a battle cry and taking out her weapon.

"Ruby, wait!" Yang called.

Once she met the creature, she was knocked back.

"D-Do-Don't worry! Totally fine!" Ruby said, slowly getting up. _She's gonna kill herself like that_, I thought.

She turned back to the Death Stalker and shot it once then took off running. It wasn't much to distract it because it chased after her.

"Tch," I said, starting to run toward her. "Ruby!" Yang shouted, starting to run to Ruby as well. _Looks like it came back_, I thought.

The Nevermore from before cawed and released feathers that had sharp points.

I immediately took opened my umbrella to shield myself from the feathers. One caught onto Ruby's cloak and she struggled to get out of it. _Crap_, I thought. _At this point she's gonna get killed._

"Ruby, get out of there!" Yang yelled."I'm trying!" Ruby shouted back. I continued running toward her as the Death Stalker approached her. I was about to teleport, but then a white blur pasted me as it raised its stinger to pierce Ruby. It was Weiss.

She stabbed the ground with her rapier and with the use of blue dust, she encased the Death Stalker in ice.

"You are **so** childish!" said Weiss. I sighed in relief.

"Weiss...?" Ruby said.

"_And_ dim-witted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style. And I suppose I can be a bit... difficult... but if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. So if you quit trying to show off, I'll be... nicer," Weiss replied. "I'm not trying to show off. I want you to know I can do this," Ruby replied. "You're fine," Weiss said, walking away. Ruby sighed out of relief and got up. "Whoa!" she said upon noticing the Death Stalker's tail trapped in ice.

Yang rushed up to her and gave her a hug. Ruby grunted upon receiving it. "So happy you're okay!" said Yang. I looked up and saw the Nevermore still above us. We regrouped.

"Guys? That thing's circling back! What are we gonna do?" Jaune asked. "Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us," Weiss replied. We stared at the relics. "She's right. Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the Cliffs," Ruby said, nodding to Weiss. "There's no point in fighting these things."

"Run and live - that's an idea I can get behind!" Jaune replied.

She grabbed a gold knight and Jaune took a gold rook. They smiled at each other for a moment. I looked over to the Death Stalker as I heard the ice crack.

"Time we left!" Ren said. I used my semblance to make illusions of us. "My illusions won't last too long, so let's get going," I said. "Right," replied Ruby, waving to us. "Let's go!" We ran forward and out of the forest to another series of abandoned structures as the huge Nevermore followed us in the air.

We spreaded out and hid when it passed above us.

"Well, that's great!" Yang said, annoyed. The Death Stalker bursted into the scene from the forest. _I guess it's name really does mean it stalks you to kill you_, I thought.

"Ah, man, **run**!" said Jaune. We emerged from our hiding spots p, causing the creature to rise up into the air.

"Nora, distract it!" I heard Ren say.

Nora obliged, running out from her block and jumping through the feather projectiles before reaching behind her and launching several heart-topped shells from her grenade launcher, bursting into pink electricity when they hit the Nevermore, and causing it to retreat.

She was unaware of the Death Stalker rushing up behind her until Blake and Ren perform a cross-slash with their weapons against its shell. Weiss landed next to Nora so she could create a jumping platform beneath them and leap to safety while Blake and Ren were now being chased.

"Go, go!" Pyrrha stopped running beside Jaune and got out her shotgun, firing red shots along Ren's green blasts for a second until the Death Stalker reached them and tried to swipe, prompting them to run again.

I created an illusion of myself in a distance from the creature to distract it while we raced over to the stone bridge. I noticed the huge Nevermore closing in on us and made a few shots at it with my umbrella. _Nothing_, I thought.

It used its giant wings to shatter the bridge in the middle where I was standing and I teleported on the back of the bird. Unsheathing my sword, I slashed at it as best as I could while shooting it at the same time. Blake appeared and helped me, but nothing worked. We jumped off and landed on the ruined platform at the top of the platforms next to Ruby.

"It's tougher than it looks!" Blake told Ruby, Weiss and Yang. "Then let's hit it with everything we've got!" replied Yang, readying her gauntlets. "It's worth a try!" I said, closing my umbrella and pointing it at the Nevermore.

With the Nevermore approaching, Ruby, Blake, Weiss, Yang and I set our weapons to fire a barrage of blasts at the bird, which it either dodged or took harmlessly until it crashed through the columns and platform. We leaped from one section of falling stone to the next until we reached the higher bridge on top, just below the cliff with our own style.

"None of this is working!" said Weiss.

I teleported by Yang and fired shots with her at the creature. Yang landed a blow at its face and caused it to head right towards her, but she leaped for its open maw. I quickly teleported away and made more shots as Yang forced its beak open wide as she attacked. Jumping back onto a ruin, the Nevermore crashed into the cliffs.

Noticing Ruby, Blake and Weiss I teleported to them.

Despite our attempts, the Nevermore recovered quickly, and Weiss rushed to the battle. Yang passed her as she ran to us while the Nevermore started to fly back up, but Weiss hopped over to the ruin it was lifting off of and freezed the tip of its feathery tail to the ground, leaving it stuck in the same spot despite its flapping. Weiss back-flipped into a snowflake-circle jump and landed on the other side, running to the us.

Blake fired the pistol portion of her weapon over to Yang, and the two tightened it between the columns so that Ruby could jump on the center with her scythe and bend it back into Weiss' black sigil, right next to the caster and me.

"Of course _you_ would come up with this idea," Weiss said. "Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked her. "Hmm! Can I!" she responded confidently. A second passed and Ruby said, "Can't?"

"Of course I can!" replied Weiss.

"What about you, Moni?" Ruby asked. "I can do it. And just for your information, you'll get a little dizzy but it wears off a few seconds later," I explained."Gotcha," she replied.

Ruby looked forward and pumped her weapon as Weiss turned the circle from black to red and released Ruby at such a speed that the ground behind her launch cracked, rose petals flying from her ascent. Using my teleportation semblance, I teleported her closer to the Nevermore. Her scythe caught the Nevermore's neck in its blade and caused them both to fall to the cliff wall. Weiss raised her sword and created a series of white circles up the wall, which Ruby dashed through by firing the entire way up.

Yang, Blake, me and an exhausted Weiss watched her climb up with the bird in her grasp until, both warrior and monster crying out, Ruby reaches the top of the cliff, circles up, fires one last shot, and rends the Nevermore's head from its shoulders in a shower of petals.

She landed beside the severed head as the body of the giant Nevermore fell lifeless to the ruins and crevice below while we watched in amazement.

_Not bad, Ruby. Not bad_, I thought.

Ruby, her cape and petals flowing with the wind, looked down to us as we peer up.

"Well... That was a thing!" Yang said. "Yeah," I replied.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR," Headmaster Ozpin said. Amid the clapping, Nora laughed and gave Ren a hug.

"Led by... Jaune Arc!" he finished.

"Huh? L-Led by...?" Jaune said. "Congratulations, young man," Headmaster Ozpin replied.

Pyrrha offered a friendly shoulder bump to Jaune, but her "fine leader" was knocked over and fell to his butt in front of the laughing audience. I held in my laugh.

"And lastly, because of the irregularities in numbers, there is going to be a team composed of five: Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long. Spumoni," he said while motioned us to come over. "The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBYS. Led by... Ruby Rose!"

Weiss looked surprised, Ruby was obviously shocked, and Yang hugged her sister.

"I'm so proud of you!" she said.

"It looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year," Headmaster Ozpin said.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

"I'm exhausted," Ruby said, throwing herself on one of the beds. "I totally need to rest," I said, taking a bed. "I've got dibs on first shower!" Yang said, quickly getting into the bathroom and closing the door. Blake and Weiss threw themselves on beds too and Blake opened up a book to read.

I opened up my scroll and started typing in the next report.

"_I'm in Team RWBYS just for your information. The leader, Ruby Rose, is quite talented. Still nothing suspicious."_ I typed. After pressing the send button, I moved on to another message.

"_Wish you were here."_ I typed and hit the send button to send it to Neo.

A few seconds passed and my scroll ringed once. I saw the new message from Neo.

"_I miss you a lot too and wish you were here at home with me. Being Roman's bodyguard is really boring and sucks."_

I smiled and got up to change into my sleepwear.

An hour passed and we all went to bed.

"Goodnight Weiss," Ruby said.

"Just go to sleep, you dolt," Weiss replied.

"Goodnight Blake," Ruby continued.

"Goodnight Ruby."

"Goodnight Yang."

"See you in the morning."

"Goodnight Moni."

"Goodnight Ruby. Sleep well."

* * *

N/A: In the end, Moni didn't get a partner... I feel bad... Leave a review if you'd like or follow if you'd like! See you in the next!


	3. Chapter 4-8

N/A: This one has 6,509 words!

* * *

Chapter 4: The Badge and The Burden

"Oh, good morning Moni," Ruby said. "Morning Ruby," I replied.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"Why do your eyes switch colors frequently in battle and why do you always have a smug look when in battle?"

I lightly chuckled.

"That's more than one question, Ruby."

"Sorry."

"It's all right. My eyes vary from mint green, strawberry pink and chocolate brown. When I'm not in battle, my eyes seem to stay chocolate brown and when I am, one of them turns mint green."

"Ohhhh. What about strawberry pink?"

"That color is the eye color of fear for me."

"What about the other question?"

"Are you sure you want to know?"

She nodded and I took a deep breath.

"I… become psychopathic in battle and I'm always confident that I'll win."

_Hopefully this doesn't damage our relationship_, I thought, looking away from her.

"That's okay."

I looked back at her, surprised.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For not keeping your distance from me. People would always freak out whenever I killed someone or something with a psychopathic smile."

"Well, you seem to be able to control yourself when you're in battle, so that's good."

We shared a smile and a yawning Yang awoke. Blake eventually woke up too and we all got into our uniforms except for Weiss, who was still sleeping.

Later, she woke up, eyes fluttering open and stretching as she yawned.

Ruby crept up to her side and blew a whistle, ruining Weiss' peaceful moment and causing her to fall off her bed.

"Good morning, Team RWBYS!" Ruby said. "What in the world is wrong with you?" exclaimed Weiss, from the floor. "Now that you're awake, we can officially begin our first order of business," Ruby continued, ignoring Weiss' question. Weiss got up and brushed herself off. "Excuse me?" she said. "Decorating!" said Yang, holding various objects. "What?!" replied Weiss. "We still have to unpack," Blake said lifting her suitcase up. It opened and its contents spilled. "Aaaand clean."

Weiss gave us a look and Ruby knocked her back again with the blow of her whistle.

"Aaaalright! Weiss, Blake, Yang, Moni, and their fearless leader Ruby have begun their first mission!" Ruby said. She raised her fist in the air and said, "Banzai!" Blake and Yang did the same thing and repeated, "Banzai!" I smiled at their cheerfulness.

Weiss sighed and I helped her up.

We began our "first mission" and I unpacked.

I placed a photo of me and Neo under my pillow, not wanting the others to see it.

Looking over to Blake, her eyes were wide and she was warily looking around while holding a book called "Ninjas of Love".

"What's that?" I asked her. "This?" she replied, laughing nervously. "This is absolutely nothing!" She quickly hid the book in her suitcase and left me wondering what could be inside that book.

_Blake, don't tell me it's contents are…_, I shook the thought away quickly and quietly sighed out of relief.

After we were finished, we admired our handiwork, but there was one problem; the beds were cramped together in the middle.

"This isn't going to work," Weiss said. "It is a bit cramped," Blake said. "Maybe we should ditch some of our stuff…" suggested Yang. "Or we could ditch the beds... and replace them with **bunk beds**!" Ruby said. "Umm, that sounds incredibly dangerous," Weiss replied. "And super-_awesome_!" Yang said. "It _does_ seem efficient," said Blake. "Fine with me," I said.

"Well, we should put it to a vote!" Weiss said. "I think we just did," replied Ruby.

Within a few minutes, we got the bunk beds to work and my bed was in the corner, far away from the others.

"Objective: Complete!" said Ruby.

"Moni, why is your bed over there?" Ruby asked. "Umm, because it wouldn't be good if it was in the middle," I replied. "Oh come on!" she said. "It's fine," I replied. "I'll get you spumoni ice cream later!" she offered. "Deal," I responded in less than a second. "Yay!" Ruby cheered. I only smiled.

After taking a minute to move my bed to the middle, Ruby then said, "Allllright! Our second order of business iiiiiiiis...!"

She was suddenly on her bed and had a schedule in her lap. "Now, we have a few classes together today. At 9, we've got to be-"

"_What?!_ Did you say 9 o'clock?" asked Weiss. "Uuuum…" replied Ruby. "It's 8:55, you dunce!" Weiss exclaimed. She rushed out of the room and down the hall.

"Well see you guys over there!" I said, teleporting to the classroom.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

I had just finished filing my nails when they came in. I looked at the clock: 8:59.

"That. Wasn't. Fair. At. All," Ruby said, trying to catch her breath. "Better get in your seats, you're one minute early," I said. "Also, ten seconds left." They took their seats quick and Professor Peter Port came in.

"Monsters! _Deeeemons_... Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as **prey**! Ha-ha!" he started. Blake and Yang were sitting up and listening, Weiss was taking note of everything probably, Ruby was taking a quick nap and woke up from Professor Port's bad joke and I was doing the same thing as Yang and Blake, just taking notes of the important parts. And I swear that I could hear crickets when he finished saying that.

"Uhhhh... And you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy! Now, as I was saying: Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely _teeming_ with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses…" Professor Port winked at Yang, who is response, groaned uncomfortably. "Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! From what, you ask? Why, the _very world_!" he continued. "Ayyyy-yep!" a student said, raising his fist. We all looked at him strangely and he stood like that for a moment. Then he sat back down, embarrassed.

"That is what you are training to become. But first: A story. A tale of a young, handsome man... Me! When I was a boy…" He continued on with his story.

I kept on hearing scribbles and looked over to Ruby, who was scribbling something.

"...Despite smelling of cabbages, my grandfather was a wise man. 'Peter', he told me…"

Ruby then snickered and showed us her creation: A general ball-with-limbs-and-a-head drawing of the teacher with stink lines coming from him and "Professor Poop" written underneath.

Blake and Yang started to laugh and I laughed quietly.

"Ah-heh-hem!" Professor Port said, trying to get our attention. Then he continued.

"In the end, the Beowolf was no match for my_sheer_ tenacity, and I returned to my village with the beast in captivity and my head held high, celebrated as a hero!"

_For killing just one Beowolf? Lame_, I thought.

"The moral of this story? A true Huntsman must be honorable! A true Huntsman must be dependable! A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise! So, who among you believes themselves to be the _embodiment_ of these _traits_?" he asked.

"I do, sir!" Weiss said, raising her hand and sounding angry.

"Well, then, let's find out!" he replied, turning to gesture at glowing red eyes in a cage that was shaking. "Step forward, and face your opponent!"

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

After a few minutes, Weiss came back prepared in her regular attire and with Myrtenaster.

"Goooo, Weiss!" Yang cheered, raising her fist. "Fight well!" cheered Blake, waving a small flag with our team name. "Good luck!" I cheered. "Yeah, represent teeeeam RWBY!" Ruby cheered. "Ruby! I'm trying to focus!" Weiss replied, lowering her rapier and looking over at our leader. "Oh, um... Sorry…" Ruby said, looking sheepishly.

"Allllright!" Professor Port said, pulling out his axe. "Let the match... _begin_!" He swung down his axe and broke the lock, dropping the cage door and revealing a Boarbatusk inside. It immediately charged at Weiss. She used Myrtenaster to deflect its attack and rolled to the side, readying herself for its next move. The Grimm stood a distance away from its enemy, studying her.

"Ha-ha! Wasn't expecting _that_, were you?" Professor Port said. "Hang in there, Weiss!" said Ruby.

Weiss sped towards the oncoming Boarbatusk, sticking her blade straight at its skull until they met and Myrtenaster became trapped in the beast's tusks. She was still hanging on to the hilt, and was tossed around as she struggled to get the rapier back.

_She's lacking focus_, I thought.

"Bold, new approach. I like it!" Professor Port said. "Come on, Weiss, show it who's boss!" cheered Ruby.

Weiss turned to glare at Ruby, only for the Boarbatusk to turn its head and rip the sword from her grip. Myrtenaster lands far away from its master, who is knocked back by the creature's tusks.

"Oh-ho! Now what will you do without your weapon?" Professor Port said.

Weiss looked up just in time to see the Boarbatusk to charge again. She rolled out of the way just in time to avoid getting trampled and make it crash into a desk. Weiss rushed to her sword and slid to get it back in her hand.

"Weiss! Go for its belly! There's no armor underneath-" Ruby said, only to interrupted by Weiss. "Stop telling me what to do!" she interrupted, turning to Ruby.

I looked over to Ruby, who looked hurt at Weiss' rebuttal.

The Boarbatusk leaped into the air and rolled into a ball, spinning rapidly in the air and landing on the ground, consistently gaining speed until it launched itself at Weiss. It came closer and closer, but Weiss activated one of her blue-white circles and blocked the roll, leaping up into the now-black snowflake symbol and turning it blue again so she could drive the blade into the Boarbatusk's stomach. It squealed and fell silent while Weiss gasped in relief.

"Bravo! Bra-vo! It appears we are _indeed_ in the presence of a true Huntress-in-training!" said Professor Port. Weiss stood up and glared at Ruby. "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and... stay _vigilant_! Class dismissed!"

She turned away and walked hurriedly to the exit past us.

"Sheesh, what's with her?" Jaune said, watching her as she left.

Blake, Ruby, Yang and I looked at each other with the same question.

Ruby ran off after Weiss.

"Well, see you guys in other classes," I said, leaving the room.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

"She hasn't returned after our Grimm Studies," Ruby worriedly said. "I'm sure she's thinking about something through," I replied, putting my hand on her shoulder. "Weiss will come back, don't worry," Yang said. "I hope so…" Ruby replied.

We got into bed and went to sleep.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Chapter 5: Jaunedice

A buzzer sounded as Jaune and Cardin's duel ended.

"Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's Aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament-styled duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle, and that the official may call the match," Professor Goodwitch explained. She turned to Jaune. "Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now. Please try to refer to your Scroll during combat. Gauging your Aura will help you decide when it's appropriate to attack, or when it is better to move to a more... defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf, now, would we?"

"Speak for yourself…" Cardin said to Jaune.

"Remember, everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away! It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing! Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale!" Professor Goodwitch finished. Yang was punching the air in anticipation, Weiss was shaking her fists with an excited smile and Ruby was shaking her entire body with enthusiastic energy while squealing softly. I suppressed a giggle and smiled while rolling my eyes at them.

The bell then rung and we left to our next class.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

"So! There we were, in the middle of the night…" Nora said. "It was day," Ren corrected. "We were **surrounded** by Ursai…" Nora continued. "They were Beowolves," Ren corrected again.

"Dozens of them!" she screamed.

Weiss was filing her nails, Blake was reading her book, Yang was cupping her face with her hands, Ruby and Pyrrha were listening politely, Jaune was messing with his food and I took a bite out of my spumoni ice cream.

"Two of 'em" Ren corrected.

"But they were no match... And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!" Nora finished.

"She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now," Ren said, sighing.

"Is that possible?" I asked. "Because I always have a different dream."

"Maybe only for her," Ren replied.

"So she _is_ deranged," I commented.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

"This is prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution, more popularly known as the Faunus War!" Professor Bartholomew Oobleck fast-talked, zooming up to the front of the class and the map covered in papers behind his desk. "Humankind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing Faunus population in Menagerie."

He pointed at a map of said-area with his stick and zoomed off to the side for a sip of his coffee and then appeared in front of his desk.

"Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day!"

Our eyes followed him wherever he zoomed to.

"Now! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?"

Some of the students raised their hand. The Faunus girl who was being bullied by Team CRDL did too.

_I feel bad for them_, I thought.

"Dreadful, simply dreadful! Remember, students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence!" Professor Oobleck continued while taking another sip of his coffee. "I mean, I mean, I mean just look at what happened to White Fang! Now, which one of you young scallions can tell me what many theorize to be the turning point in the third year of the War?"

Weiss raised her hand.

"Yes?"

"The battle at Fort Castle!" Weiss said.

"Precisely! And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?"

"Hey!" Jaune said.

"Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class! This is excellent! Excellent! What is the answer?" Professor Oobleck asked, zooming over into Jaune's face.

"Uhhhh... The answer... The advantage... of the Faunus..." Jaune responded, "...had over that guy's stuff... Uhh... Binoculars!"

The class laughed at him and I had to suppress my own.

"Very funny, Mr. Arc! Cardin! Perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject!" Professor Oobleck said, zooming back behind his desk.

"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an _animal_ than a soldier," Cardin replied.

"You're not the most open-minded of individuals, are you, Cardin?" Pyrrha said.

"What? You got a problem?"

"No, I have the answer! It's night vision. Many Faunus are known to have nearly-perfect sight in the dark."

Cardin growled.

"General Lagune was inexperienced, and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured," Blake said. "Perhaps if he'd paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure."

"Mr. Winchester! Please take your seat," Professor Oobleck said when Cardin got up from his seat with his fist clenched.

I looked at him and stuck my tongue out with a smirk. Cardin growled at me but I didn't mind. Jaune laughed at him.

"You and Mr. Arc can both see me after class for additional readings."

"Oohhhh..." Jaune groaned, shoulders slumped.

"Now! Moving on!" Professor Oobleck said, zooming away.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Chapter 6: Forever Fall

"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so," Professor Goodwotch said.

It's been so long since I came here. This was where Cinder would train Neo and me and teach us things as kids.

"Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here by 4 o'clock. Have fun!" she finished while holding a jar of red sap.

"Easy," I quietly mumbled to myself when I finished. I stepped back on glass and looked down at it. The point was pointing toward a direction where no one else was.

_Is Neo here?_, I thought.

I walked toward the direction when no one was looking. When I got there, Neo was there.

She ran to me and hugged me tightly. I stroked her hair.

Neo stopped and looked at me, telling me, "I missed you a lot."

I smiled. "I did too, Neo. But what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be with Roman?"

"I ditched him," her eyes told me.

"Well you should head back because I don't want you to get in trouble."

She nodded and gave me another big hug. I lightly chuckled and gave a kiss to her forehead.

"Be good, okay?"

She nodded again and with a smile, she teleported away.

Suddenly, I heard the roar of an Ursa and ran toward the sound.

When I got there, I witnessed Pyrrha lift her hand out to Jaune, who was fighting against an Ursa. He was comepletely open when the Ursa attacked.

Dark red energy gathered in her arm and just as the Ursa was about to hit him, the glow surrounded Jaune's shield and made it lift up to block the swipe. Jaune used the surprise defensive move to lean on the ground, push his shield back up, and swing his blade right through the Ursa's neck. The head fell to the ground as the body slammed onto the ground.

I sighed in relief, but a thought came to my head.

_When did I care for others than Cinder and Neo?_

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Chapter 7: The Stray

The streets of Vale were being decorated in time for the Vytal Festival. Red, yellow, and green streamers and balloons were proudly on display, and we were strolling through it all with an awed Weiss in the front.

"The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is absolutely wonderful!" said Weiss, stopping and raising her arms in amazement.

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much, Weiss," Ruby said, frowning a little. "It's kinda weirding me out..."

"How could you not smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances! Parades! A tournament! Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!" Weiss said, turning to Ruby. We continued walking.

"It doesn't seem breathtaking to me. Besides what is so breathtaking about the amount of planning and organization in this event?" I asked, raising a brow.

"You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring," Yang said, sighing and crossing her arms.

"Quiet, you two!" Weiss replied to us.

As we neared the docks, the sound of foghorns were heard and it smelled like fish.

"Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?" Yang asked.

"Ugh, they smell like fish!" complained Ruby, covering her nose.

"I've heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today. And, as a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom!" said Weiss.

"She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament," said Blake.

I laughed.

"You can't prove that!" Weiss scoffed.

"Whoa," Ruby said.

We looked at a shattered window down the street and a door full of yellow caution tape of the Vale Police Force before walking over to the detective in front writing on his pad.

"What happened here?" she asked.

"Robbery. Second Dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle," the detective said.

_Just how much dust do you need, Roman?_, I thought.

"That's terrible," said Yang, sighing sadly.

"They left all the money again," another detective said to his partner.

"Huh?" Ruby said.

"Yeah, just doesn't make a lick of sense. Who needs that much Dust?" the first detective replied to his partner.

"I don't know, an army?"

"You thinking the White Fang?"

"Yeah, I'm thinking we don't get paid enough."

"Hmm! The White Fang," said Weiss, crossing her arms and pointing her nose in the air with her eyes closed. "What an awful bunch of degenerates!"

"What's your problem?" asked Blake.  
"My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane."  
"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths."

Blake crossed her arms.

"They're a collection of misguided Faunus."  
"Misguided? They want to wipe Humanity off the face of the planet!"  
So then they're very misguided. Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale!"

I was aware of the fact that it was Roman who was leading the White Fang. He was only using them to progress his plan.  
"Hmm... Blake's got a point. Besides, the police never caught that Torchwick guy I ran into a few months ago... Maybe it was him," Ruby said.

I almost said, "You know Roman?" but I kept my mouth shut before they would ask me questions.  
"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum," Weiss replied. "Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal."  
"That's not necessarily true..." Yang said.

"Weiss, you make them sound like they're all criminals," I said. "What if you were a Faunus? Obviously, you'd face prejudice like them."

"Well I'm _not_ one of them nor am I a Faunus sympathizer!"

"Not every Faunus is with the White Fang. I'm sure they just want fair treatment. I don't even see much of a difference between humans and Faunus. They're both the same, except for the fact that the Faunus have some enhanced senses and animal features like ears and tails."

"Thank you," Blake said.

"No problem."

"Hey, stop that Faunus!" a sailor yelled.

We rushed over to investigate and a Faunus with a golden monkey tail we saw was running down the length of the boat and leaping on to the edge as two sailors were about to apprehend him.

"Thanks for the ride, guys! Haha!" the Faunus said, looking back at his pursuers.

"You no-good stowaway!" one of the sailors said.

The Faunus used his tail to hang on a lamppost while he peeled back a banana.

"Hey! A _no-good_ stowaway would've been caught! I'm a _great_ stowaway!" he replied.

Before he could eat his banana a detective threw a stone at him to get his attention.

"Hey! Get down from there this instant!" the detective ordered.

He dropped the banana peel on the detective's face, who growled in return. The monkey-like Faunus twirled up to crouch on the lamppost. He laughed in amusement, and proceeded to leap off and run away from the detectives. As he ran past us, he winked at an astonished Blake and continued to be chased by the officers.

I pointed at him and said, "Did he just flir-"

Blake put a hand to my mouth.

"Well, Weiss, you wanted to see the competition, and there it goes…" said Yang.

"Quick! We have to observe him!" Weiss said.

"Oh, so you were going to spy on them!" I replied.

She ignored me and we all ran after him, well except for Blake who was probably lost in thought. She eventually caught up with us anyway.

When we turned around the corner, Weiss bumped into someone and tripped.

"No, he got away!" she said.

"Uhh… Weiss?" said Yang, pointing to the girl Weiss bumped into.

The girl was smiling, which kinda creeped me out. The heiress was startled by her and got up quickly.

_A normal person would not smile when someone bumps into them!_, I thought.

"Sal-u-ta-tions!" the girl said, still on the ground with the same smile.

"Um… Hello," replied Ruby.

"Are you… okay?" asked Yang.

"I'm **wonderful**! Thank you for asking," the girl replied.

We looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Do you… wanna get up?"

The girl thought for a moment, then answered.

"Yes!" she replied.

She leaped back on her feet while we stepped back a little.

"My name is Penny! It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Hi Penny. I'm Ruby," Ruby said.

"I'm Weiss."

"Blake."

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?"

Blake hitted Yang's side.

"Oh, I'm Yang."

"And I'm Moni."

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Penny said.

"You already said that," Weiss replied.

Penny paused.

"So I did!" she said.

"Well, sorry for running into you!"

We turned around and started walking away from the strange girl.

"Take care, friend!" Ruby said, waving.

When we got far enough from Penny, Yang spoke.

"She was... _weird_…"

"Now, where did that Faunus riff-raff run off to?" Weiss said.

"What did you call me?" Penny asked, suddenly in front of us.

Weiss looked back and forth in shock and I took a step back.

"Oh, I'm really sorry, I definitely didn't think you heard me!" Yang said.

"No, not you."

She walked through us and leaned her head down to Ruby

"**You!**"

"_Me?_ I-I don't know. I, what I, um, uh…" Ruby said, startled.

"You called me 'friend'! Am I _really_ your **friend**?"

"Uuuum…"

She looked over Penny's shoulder while we made motions to deny her.

"Y-Yeah, sure! Why not?"

We comically fainted and Penny looked overjoyed and laughed.

"Sen-sational! We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!"

"Oh, is this what it was like when you met me?" Ruby groaned.

"No - she seems _far_ more coordinated," Weiss replied, brushing herself off.

"So... what are you doing in Vale?" asked Yang.

"I'm here to fight in the tournament," Penny answered.

"Wait, _you're_ fighting in the tournament?" Weiss asked.

"I'm combat ready!" said Penny, saluting.

"Forgive me, but you hardly look the part."

"Says the girl wearing a dress?" Blake asked.

"It's a combat skirt!"

Ruby speeded over to Weiss' side.

"Yeah!"

Weiss held out her hand and Ruby low-fived it.

"Wait a minute," Weiss said.

She walked over to Penny and grabbed her by the shoulders

"If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed rapscallion?"

"The who...?"

Weiss held up a poor drawing of the Faunus from earlier.

"The filthy Faunus from the boat!"

"Why do you keep saying that?!" Blake asked, clearly angered.

"Huh?" said Weiss, turning her attention to her.

"Stop calling him a rapscallion! Stop calling him a degenerate! He's a person!"

"Oh, I'm sorry."

She released Penny and motioned to objects around her.

"Would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can? Or this lamppost as a lamppost?"

"Stop it!"

"Stop _what_? He clearly broke the law. Give him time; he'll probably join up with those other Faunus in the White Fang!"

"You ignorant little _brat_!"

Blake growled at Weiss and Weiss looked offended. Blake walked away and she followed.

_I think she's more than a Faunus sympathizer…_, I thought.

"How dare you talk to me like that! _I _am your teammate!"

"_You_ are a judgmental little girl."

"What in the world makes you say that?"

"The mere fact that you would sort that Faunus boy with a terrorist group solely based on his species makes you just as much of a scoundrel as you believe him to be!"

Yang slid up to me and Ruby, looking uncomfortable.

"Um, I think we should probably go…"

"And we better hurry…" I whispered, motioning over to Penny with my eyes.

She popped up behind Ruby, having that same smile.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

I sighed with discomfort and began walking back to the academy.

"So you admit it! The White Fang _is_ just a radical group of terrorists!"

"That's not what I meant, and you know it!"

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

The three of us continued to observe as we arrived in our dorm room.

"I don't understand _why_ this is causing such a problem!" Weiss said.

"That _is_ the problem!" Blake replied.

"You realize you are defending an organization that hates Humanity, don't you? The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!"

Weiss got up from her bed.

"There's no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate Humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like _**you**_, that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"

Blake also got to her feet.

"People like _me_?"

"You're discriminatory!"

"I'm a victim!"

There was silence as stared at each other. Weiss leaned close, leering as she spoke quietly.

"You want to know _why_ I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the Faunus?"

She leaned against the window.

"It's because they've been in war with my family for years. War, as in _actual_ bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear; board members executed. An entire train car full of Dust, stolen. And every day, my father would come home, furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood."

"Weiss, I-" Ruby was trying to comfort Weiss, but she interrupted her and walked back over to Blake.

"No! You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!"

"Well maybe **we** were just tired of being pushed around!"

Silence fell again and I raised a brow. Surprised, Weiss backed away slowly and Blake realized her mistake and looked at us.

_So my guesses were correct, Blake is a Faunus_, I thought.

"I... I…"

She dashed out.

"Blake, wait! Come back!" Ruby called, running over to the door.

Yang sat down and Weiss looked down. I crossed my arms and leaned on the wall.

"So… she's a Faunus…" I spoke.

Weiss looked away, some shock and pain written on her face.

For the rest of the night, no one spoke a word.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

"She's been gone all weekend…" Ruby said.

We were walking through the empty streets of Vale.

"Blake's a big girl, I'm sure she can handle herself!" replied Weiss.

"Weiss, come on, she's one of our teammates," said Yang.

"Is she? We all heard what she said!"

"Weiss…" Ruby said.

"Maybe she is, maybe she isn't. Either way, she's missing, and we need to find her!" said Yang.

"A member of the White Fang! Right underneath our noses!" Weiss said.

"I just hope she's okay…" said Ruby.

I glared over at Weiss.

"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't kept calling that Faunus names."

"My fault? He is a rapscallion!"

"One, Blake is still our teammate. Two, there's only one way to know if she was a part of the White Fang, which is if she doesn't come back and only runs away from us. Three, we aren't Team RWBYS without her."

She opened her mouth but I spoke again.

"And don't even think about saying anything else about her. Blake is who she is and we can't change that. You have an entire day to think what to say to her if we find her today."

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Chapter 8: White and Black

"Blaaaake!" Ruby called.

"Blaaaake!" Yang also called out.

"Blaaaaaaaake! Where aaaare yoooouuuu!?"

"Blake!" I called.

"Weiiiiss, you're not helping!" Ruby said, turning to Weiss.

"Oh! You know what might be able to help? The police!" she responded.

I sent a sharp glare at her and she glared back. Ruby crossed her arms with irritation.

"Ugh, _Weiss_…"

"It was just an idea!"

Walking down the sidewalk, Ruby replied, "Yeah, a _bad_ one."

"Weiss, I think we should hear her side of the story before we jump to any conclusions," Yang said.

"**I** think that when we hear it, you'll all realize _I_ was right!" responded Weiss.

"You don't even know, so you should just stop assuming things," I said.

"And I think Weiss' hair looks _wonderful_ today!" Penny interrupted our conversation.

We turned around with surprise and saw her.

"Aaaah! Penny! Where did you come from!?" Ruby asked.

"Hey guys! What are you up to?" she asked, ignoring the question cheerfully.

"Uhh…"

"We're looking for our friend Blake," Yang said.

"Ooooh, you mean the Faunus girl!" Penny replied.

We stared at her.

"Wait, how did you know that?" Ruby asked.

"Uhh, the cat ears?"

Penny pointed at her head.

"What cat ears? She wears a... bo_ooohhh_…" said Yang, laughing a little.

A tumbleweed blew through in the wind as we realized why she always wore a bow.

"She does like tuna a lot…" Ruby whispered.

"And especially likes to play with yarn balls," I joked.

"So, where is she?" Penny asked.

"We don't know. She's been missing since Friday," Ruby replied.

"That's terrible!"

Penny gasped and approached the uncomfortable Ruby.

"Well, don't you worry Ruby, my friend! I won't rest until we find your teammate!" she declared.

"Uh, that's really nice of you, Penny, but we're okay! Really! Right, guys?" Ruby asked, doing her best to continue smiling.

Weiss pulled my arm and dragged me as Yang ran off.

"Wait! Where are we- wah!"

She took off at full speed, forcing me to run along with her.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

"Thanks anyways!" Yang said as we exited the shop. She sighed. "This is hopeless."

Weiss looked around nonchalantly.

"You really don't care if we find her, do you?"

"Don't be stupid; of _course_ I do. I'm just afraid of what she'll say when we find her," Weiss replied, walking forward. "The innocent never run, Yang!"

Yang looked down in thought.

"Taking my quote now, hm?"

Weiss looked away from me.

"C'mon, say it."

"..."

"Please?"

"Yes, yes I did," she finally said.

I smiled.

Then there was an explosion and we all looked in the direction. There was also smoke.

"There's our clue!" I said. "See you guys over there!"

"Moni, wait!"

I had already teleported to the location.

Analyzing the situation, I realized who it was.

"Are you serious Roman?" I said to myself.

I saw him and watched him going against Blake and that Faunus with the monkey tail.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

When Roman ran to the last transport, he noticed me and waved his scroll in the air. The door closed and my scroll ringed. I accepted the call.

"So that's what she ordered you to do? Spend time with kids?"

"Shut up. I'm only a spy for Cinder here at Beacon Academy."

"Were you hoping if Neo was with me?"

"What if I was?"

He chuckled.

"Well, see you later, Moni."

He ended the call and I put my scroll away.

"I'm gonna kill him someday," I quietly told myself.

I waited till Weiss and Yang arrived and joined them.

There was a handful of police here at the docks.

"Look Weiss, it's not what you think, she explained the whole thing. See, she doesn't actually have a bow, she has kitty ears and they're actually kind of cute…" Ruby explained quickly. Weiss ignored her and squared off with Blake.

"Weiss, I want you to know that I'm no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was with the-" Blake was interrupted by Weiss.

"Stop! Do you have any idea of how long we've been searching for you?"

She paused.

"_Twelve_ hours. That means I've had twelve hours to think about this. And in that twelve hours, I've decided…"

Yang, Ruby, the monkey Faunus looked on, worried. I kept smiling and waited for her answer.

"I don't care."

Blake was surprised.

"You don't care?"

"You said you're not one of them anymore, right?"

"No, I-I haven't been since I was younger-"

"Ah-bah-bah-bah-bah! I don't want to hear it. All I want to know is that the next time something this big comes up... you'll come to your teammates. And not some…"

She looked at the monkey tailed Faunus.

"Someone else."

Ruby and Yang grinned along with me and Blake wiped a tear from her eye, nodding.

"Of course."

Weiss smiled and nodded.

The moment was serious for a second more until Ruby scream:

"Yeah! Team RWBYS is back together!"

She waved her arms around wildly.

We gathered with each other and Weiss accusingly pointed at the Faunus.

"I'm still not quite sure about how I feel about you!"

He laughed nervously.

"Hey, wait a minute... Where's Penny?" Ruby asked, looking around.

We looked around as well and shrugged.

_I've changed, haven't I?_

* * *

N/A: And that's the end of Volume 1! Nothing really changed much except for the fact that Moni is in it... See you in the next chapter! Leave a review or follow if you'd like!


	4. Chapter 1-4 Volume 2

N/A: And so we move onto Volume 2!

* * *

Chapter 1 Volume 2: Best Day Ever

"Whatcha doing?" Yang asked Blake, who was looking over some notes.

"Nothing," Blake replied, closing her book. "Just going over notes from last semester."

Yang caught a grape in her mouth.

"Lame."

Nora giggled as she continued to toss grapes at Yang with her spoon. Yang catches the fruit with ease, giving Nora a thumbs up. Ruby, giving an enormous heave, slammed a binder labeled "Best Day Ever Activities" onto the table, catching us off guard.

"Sisters... friends... Weiss," she said.

"Hey!" Weiss replied.

"Four score and seven minutes ago, I had a dream."

"This ought to be good," said Yang, catching another berry in her mouth.

"A dream that one day, the four of us will come together, as a _team_, and have the most fun anyone has ever had... _ever!_"

"Did you steal my binder?" Weiss asked.

I looked at the cover. It had "Vytal Festival Activities" on it and below those words were "Property of Weiss Schnee". They were also crossed out with a red pen and below it was "Best Day Ever Activities!"

"I am not a crook," replied Ruby.

"What are you talking about?" asked Blake.

"I'm talking about kicking off the semester with a bang!" Ruby said, pointing her finger at Blake.

"I always kick my semesters off with a _Yang!_ Eh? Guys? Am I right?" Yang said.

I face palmed and an apple was tossed at Yang and hit her in the face. She glared at Nora.

"Boooooooooooooooo!" Nora said.

"Look guys, it's been a good two weeks and between more exchange students arriving and the tournament at the end of the year, our second semester is going to be great! But, classes start back up tomorrow! Which is why I've taken the time to schedule a series of wonderful events for us today," said Ruby.

"I don't know whether to be proud or scared of what you have in store," replied Weiss.

"I'm just waiting for the activities to be revealed," I said.

Yang, still glaring, picked up an apple and tossed it across the room. An unfamiliar voice shouts "Hey!" and Nora was giggling.

"I don't know. I think I might sit this one out," said Blake.

"Sit out or not, I think that however we spend this last day, we should do it as a team!" declared Weiss.

"_I_ got it!" Nora said.

"I for one think that…"

Weiss was interrupted by a pie landing on her face. I covered my mouth to suppress my laugh, and what came out was, "Pfft."

Nora was the one who threw the pie, she sat down and pointed at Ren who had his head in his palm. Pyrrha's hand was over her mouth and Jaune simply sat staring wide-eyed while covering his ear with his palm.

And the next thing I knew it, an ultimate food fight began.

Students stampeded out the door.

"Ahahahaha!" Nora laughed as if she was a queen, she was on top of their base of operations.

"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!"

"Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful!" Ruby said, crushing a carton of milk in her hand. "It will be _delicious!_"

"Yeah!" we all said, simultaneously raising our fists.

"Off with their heads!" declared Nora.

She jumped down from the top of her tower, and the food fight began by Team JNPR throwing the watermelons.

"Yang! Turkey!" commanded Ruby.

Yang rolled over to the turkeys and sticked her fists inside them, proceeding to block and punch the melons as they sped toward her.

Upon completion; Blake then leaped in front of Yang and picked up two baguettes as if they were swords. Yang then threw her turkey gloves at Pyrrha, who dodged out of the way and grabbed a single baguette, leaving Jaune to take the blows.

Pyrrha and Blake dueled in a one-on-one fight. Despite Blake's attempt to disorient Pyrrha with her shadows, Pyrrha knocked her back and threw three more baguettes to Yang like they were javelins, with the last knocking her down as well.

Ruby used a food tray to slide towards Pyrrha across the table and hit a baguette back at her with the same tray; she manages to dodge the shot, but was unable to stop Ruby from knocking her backwards with the same food tray. Ren and Nora then charged at Ruby, but Weiss intercepted them and used ketchup as if it was red dust to cause Ren to slip and crash into a group of tables which were launched because of the impact.

Nora jumped through the tables to grab a metal pole and attached a watermelon to it. She attacked Weiss but hit Ruby instead, who managed to stand between them to protect her partner from the assault; however, the force of the impact knocked her down. Weiss grabbed a swordfish and engaged Nora in a one-on-one, but ended up being defeated after Nora threw her against a pillar, knocking her down, and causing the pillar to break. Before the pieces could crush Weiss, Ruby jumped in and saved her partner.

"Weiss, Weiss! Don't leave me! Nooo!" Ruby dramatically shouted

_Is this a love story?_, I thought.

Yang grabbed two more turkeys and dueled Ren, who wielded a pair of leeks. Ren was overwhelmed by Yang's reflexes and took a lot of hits before being sent a few meters into the air by an uppercut. He recovered from the strikes and threw his leeks at Yang, but she managed to dodge them and proceeded to finish Ren by jumping high enough to punch him toward the floor, knocking him out. Nora intervened immediately afterwards and sent Yang flying through the roof with her hammer.

She then came toward me and I gave her a smug expression. I teleported to a baguette and grabbed it. Then as she charged toward me I teleported above her and attacked. I created an illusion of me and teleported back as she swung her watermelon hammer toward me. The hammer hit the illusion, shattering it and hitting the ground, destroying her weapon in the process.

Blake grabbed a link of sausages and she whipped it at a disarmed Nora, throwing her against two soda machines. The soda machines leaked some soda cans that Nora threw at Blake, who managed to dodge them all. Pyrrha then used her Semblance of polarity on the puddle of soda, causing all the soda cans on it to rise after Blake, barraging her with soda.

"Tch," I said as I teleported to cover. _If only had my umbrella_, I thought.

Ruby then used her Semblance of speed to dash through the food court, causing everything to follow her through the tailwind caused by her overwhelming speed. She spun like a torpedo, creating a hurricane of food. Team Juniper was caught in the torpedo as it followed Ruby.

When Ruby braked, the wall cracked and she yelled, "_Teleam!_" I teleported her over to my side and we watched them get slammed onto the cracked wall as they got painted with soda and food.

Team JNPR slid off the wall, leaving only their outlines.

The door slammed open, Professor Goodwitch entering with a growl. She then used telekinesis to re-organize the room

"Children, please," she said, adjusting her glasses. "Do not play with your food!"

Nora burped aloud as all of us tried and failed to compose ourselves. A screaming Yang then crashed from the ceiling and into one of the tables. Professor Goodwitched grumbled and Headmaster Ozpin approached and placed a hand on her shoulder.

We started to laugh and Yang gave the Headmaster and Professor a thumbs up.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

That night, I got a message from Cinder.

"_We're proceeding to phase two."_

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Chapter 2: Welcome to Beacon

In the Beacon Academy library, we were playing "Remnant: The Game". Blake was obviously distracted, Ruby was contemplating her next move, Weiss and I were confused at this game and Yang waited for Ruby to make her move.

"Hmmmmm... All right... All right!" Ruby said. She pointed at Yang. "Yang Xiao Long, prepare your kingdom for battle!"

"Bring it on!" Yang replied, thrusting her elbow down as she balled a fist.

"I deploy the Atlesian Air Fleet!" Ruby said.

She slapped her card down on the table and Yang feigned a look of shock.

"Looks like I get to fly right over your Ursai and attack your walls directly!"

She made noises like airplanes flying and bombing as she made a bird with her hands.

"You fiend!" Yang said, feigning indignance as she pointed at Ruby.

"And since Atlas is part of Mantle, my repair time is only one turn," Ruby said, ducked at one end of the table.

She peeked her head up and gave a look of surprise as Yang laughed arrogantly.

"Pretty sneaky, sis, but you just activated my trap card!" she said, raising a card.

She showed the card to us and Ruby looked disturbed.

"Giant Nevermore!"

She slammed the card down on the table.

"If I roll a seven or higher, fatal feathers will slice your fleet in two!"

"_But_, if you roll a six or lower, the Nevermore will turn on your own forces!" Ruby replied, pointing at her.

"That's just a chance I'm willing to take."

The two glared at each other and Yang shouted triumphantly. Yang and Ruby bantered on about the game.

"Nooooo! My fearless soldiers!" Ruby yelled.

"Eh, most of them were probably androids."

"Goodbye my friends, you will be avenged."

"Not until I draw my rewards! Which are _double_ this round thanks to the Mistral Trade Route!"

"Bah!"

"Oh, and what's this? The Smugglers of Wind Path?"

"Bah! _Bah_, I say!"

"I say, it looks like I'm taking two cards in my hand!"

"Have you no heart?"

Ruby collapsed on the table, crying.

"Nooo!"

"Well, Weiss, it's your turn," Yang said.

"I have... absolutely no idea what's going on," replied Weiss.

"So do I," I said.

Yang slid up beside Weiss and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Look, it's easy! You're playing as Vacuo which means that all Vacuo-based cards come with a bonus."

"That sounds dumb."

Yang looked through Weiss' cards.

"See, you've got Sandstorm, Desert Scavenge... Oh, oh!"

She pulled up a card to show Weiss.

"Resourceful Raider! See, now you can take Ruby's discarded Air Fleet-"

"Nooo!" Ruby groaned, crying hopelessly.

"-and put it in _your_ hand!" Yang finished.

"_Okay_," Weiss responded.

"And since Vacuo warriors have an endurance against Natural-based hazards, you can use Sandstorm to disable _my_ ground forces and simultaneously infiltrate my kingdom!"

Yang pointed a finger at Weiss.

"Just know that I will not forget this declaration of war."

She pulled away and returned to her seat.

"And that means…" Weiss said.

"You're just three moves away from conquering Remnant!" Ruby replied.

Weiss stood up and made an overjoyed psychotic laugh.

"Y-Yes! Fear the almighty power of my forces! Cower as they pillage your homes and weep as they take your children from your very arms!"

"Trap card…" Yang said, holding the card.

"Huh?"

Yang shuffled the pieces on the board and Weiss' pieces disappeared.

"Your armies have been destroyed."

Weiss slumped in her chair and started tearing up.

"I hate this game of emotions we play."

Ruby hopped into Weiss' lap.

"Stay strong, Weiss! We'll make it through this together!" she said.

"Shut up!" Weiss replied.

She hugged Ruby then.

"Don't touch me!"

_Awww, that's cute, she's hugging Ruby_, I thought playfully.

"Alright Blake, you're up!" Yang said, putting her arms up behind her head.

"Oh, um, sorry, what am I doing?" replied Blake.

"You're playing as Vale, trying to conquer the Kingdoms of Remnant!"

"Right."

"Hey! Can I play?" Jaune asked, approaching our table.

"Sorry Jaune, we've already got five people," Ruby replied.

"Besides, this game requires a certain level of tactical cunning that I seriously doubt that you possess," Weiss said.

"Uhh, you attacked your own naval fleet 2 turns ago," said Yang.

Weiss made an annoyed sound.

"Bring it on, Ice Queen! I'll have you know that I have been told that I am a natural born leader!" replied Jaune.

"By who? Your mother?" Weiss asked.

"A-And Pyrrha!

"Hello again!" Pyrrha said, waving.

"Come on, let me play your hand for a turn!" he begged, both hands folded together.

"I'm not trusting you with the good citizens of Vacuo!" Weiss declined.

"Why not? You've trusted me with way more important stuff before. I mean, you told us all that Blake is secretly a Fa-"

"Fun-loving person, whom we all admire and respect," Pyrrha interrupted, slapping a hand over Jaune's mouth.

Jaune laughed nervously.

We looked nervously annoyed at Blake, who looked obviously annoyed that her secret was out.

"Right. That. Ladies, enjoy your battle," Jaune said, bowing.

"'Sup losers," Sun said, holding his fingers in a "peace sign".

"Hey Sun!" said Ruby.

"Ruby, Yang, Blake... Ice Queen and Ice Cream."

"Wonderful nickname for me," I said.

"Why does everyone keep calling me that?" asked Weiss.

"I never got a chance to formally introduce you to my old friend," Sun continued.

"Uhh, aren't libraries for reading?" the blue haired guy next to him asked.

"Thank you!" Ren said, throwing his arms up.

"Pancakes!" Nora said, waking up.

"Shut up. Don't be a nerd," Sun told his friend.

"Geh, geh, geh, geh! '_Intellectual_,' okay? Thank you," his friend said, shaking a finger at him.

Then he waved.

"I'm Neptune."

"So Neptune, where are you from?" asked Weiss.

"Haven."

He approached her.

"And I don't believe I've caught your name, snow angel."

"Um, I'm Weiss."

"Are you kidding me!?" Jaune said, referring to the nickname.

"Pleasure to meet you," Neptune said.

"I never took you as the board game playing type," Sun said to Blake.

"Right, well, I think I'm done playing actually. I'll see you guys later," Blake said as she shoved Sun aside to leave the room.

"Women," Nora shrugged.

"You're a woman too, you know," I said.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

We entered our dorm from the library.

"Ugh, we should have never let him play!" Yang said.

I giggled.

"You're just mad cuz' the new guy beat you! See, if you had just attacked when I told you none of this would have happened," Ruby replied.

As we entered, Blake approached the door to leave.

"Stop," Weiss said, pointing at her.

Blake's hand retracted from the door knob.

"Lately you've been quiet, antisocial and moody!"

"Uh, have you met Blake?" asked Yang.

"Which I _get_ is kind of your thing, but you've been doing it more than usual! Which quite frankly, is unacceptable! You made a promise to _me_, to _all of us_, that you would let us know if something was _wrong_!" Weiss continued.

She flipped through the air and balanced perfectly on a chair's back feet.

_When did that chair get there?_, I thought.

"_So_, Blake Belladonna, what is _wrong_!?" she asked, pointing her finger at Blake again.

She quickly put the chair away and returned to stand near us.

"I just, I don't understand how everyone can be so calm," Blake finally spoke.

"You're still thinking about Torchwick?" Ruby asked, approaching her.

"Torchwick, the White Fang, _all of it!_ Something _big_ is happening and no one is doing anything about it!"

"Ozpin told us not to worry. Between the police and the Huntsmen, I'm sure they can handle it," Yang said.

Well I'm _not!_ They don't know the White Fang like I do!"

"Okay, between blowing up nightclubs, stopping thieves, and fighting for freedom, I'm _sure_ the four of you think that you're _all_ ready to go out and apprehend these ne'er-do-wells!" Weiss said.

"Uh, who?" Ruby asked.

"But let me once again be the voice of reason. We're students! We're not ready to handle this sort of situation!"

"Well yeah, but…"

"We're _not_ ready!

"And we may never _be_ ready! Our enemies aren't just going to sit around and wait for graduation day," Blake said, pointing at the door. "They're out there, _somewhere_, planning their next move, and none of us know what it is, but it's _coming!_ Whether we're ready or not!"

I sighed. _Even I don't know what Cinder and Roman are planning for_, I thought.

"Okay, all in favor of becoming the youngest Huntresses to single-handedly taking down a corrupt organization conspiring against the Kingdom of Vale... say aye," Ruby said, doing random gestures while looking maniac.

"Yes! I _love_ it when you're feisty!" Yang said, pumping her fist.

"Well, I suppose it could be fun," Weiss said.

"Sure…" I said.

"None of you said aye!" replied Ruby.

"Alright then, we're in this together!" Blake said.

"Let's hatch a plan!"

"Yeah!" Yang said, doing the "double-guns" at Ruby.

"I left my board game at the library!" Ruby gasped.

"We're doomed," said Weiss, placing her hand to her head.

"I'll be right back!" Ruby said, running out of the room and down the hallway.

Then I saw Emerald and Mercury walk past the door. Cinder passed the door as well, but she looked at me and grinned.

I don't know who's side I'm on anymore.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Chapter 3: A Minor Hiccup

Ruby strapped the red laces of her shoes, Weiss' hand gripped the handle of Myrtenaster that was strapped to her side, Yang slid the chamber of Ember Celica, Blake tightened the black ribbons around her arms and I buttoned my white coat.

"I thought that class would _never_ end," Blake said, approaching her bunk.

"Alright, guys, today's the day! The investigation _begins!_" Ruby said.

She happily leaped off her mattress and onto the floor, arms raised excitedly.

"I'm glad to see we're taking this _so_ seriously," Weiss sarcastically said.

"This _is_ serious," I replied.

"Hey, we've got a plan! That's... moderately serious," Yang said.

"Right!" Ruby said, looking around at us. "Everyone remember their roles?

"You and I will head to the CCT and check the Schnee records for any other Dust robberies or inconsistencies. Seeing as I'm in the family, it shouldn't be a problem," Weiss said.

"The White Fang has regular faction meetings to hand out orders and recruit new members. If I can get in, I can hopefully find out what they're planning," Blake said.

"I have an old friend on the shady side of town that typically knows _everything_ going on in Vale. Getting information out of him shouldn't be _too_ hard…" said Yang.

"And I'll spy on the White Fang, which means I'm coming with Blake." I said.

"Great! We'll meet up tonight near Yang to go over what we found," Ruby said, pumping her fist. "Let's do this!"

"Yeah!" a familiar voice said.

We looked at the window.

"Sun!" Blake said, surprised and alarmed.

"How did you get up there?" asked Yang.

"Ah, it's easy; I do it all the time," replied Sun.

"You do _what?!_" Weiss said.

"I climb trees all the time!"

He flipped into the dorm room as Weiss scowled.

"So, are we finally getting back at that Torchwick guy?"

"_We_ are going to investigate the situation... as a _team_," Blake said, stepping forward.

"Sorry, Sun. We don't want to get friends involved if we don't have to," said Ruby

"Psh! That's dumb! We should always get friends involved! That's why I brought Neptune!" Sun said, gesturing out the window.

We leaned out the window on top of one another cartoon-style to see the aforementioned teammate of Sun's standing outside, cool as can be.

"'Sup?" Neptune said.

"How did you even get up here?" Ruby asked.

"I have my ways."

He was standing on a very thin ledge circling the building under the windows.

"Seriously, though, can I come in? We're like, _really_ high up right now," he said nervously.

Inside the dorm room, we were standing in a circle as Ruby laid down the new plan.

"Alright, I'll go with Weiss; Sun, you can go with Blake and Moni," Ruby said.

As she pushed Neptune past Weiss, he slipped her a wink. Weiss looked mildly shocked but then came to her senses quickly.

"Did he just flir-"

Weiss put a hand to my mouth.

"Not you too!" I said, pulling her hand down from my mouth.

"And Neptune, you can go with Yang since she doesn't have a partner. Everyone good?" Ruby asked.

"Actually, Ruby, why don't you go with Yang? After all, she _is_ your sister," Weiss said.

Ruby pushed Neptune, who was stiff as a board, up next to Yang. When she was done pushing him, he rocked back and forth looking nervous. Yang put her hand on his shoulder to stop him from rocking.

"But, Weiss, who would go with you, then?" asked Ruby.

"Well... I guess Neptune could come with me."

Neptune put on a suave look and pointed at Weiss.

"Hahaha, nah!" cracked up Ruby.

Weiss was obviously less than amused, yet is powerless to stop Ruby from pulling her by the back out the door.

She stuck her arms out fruitlessly, trying to get back to Neptune.

"But! _But!_"

And so began our mission!

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Chapter 4: Painting the Town

Blake's fingers traced three scratch marks on a wall before peeking around its corner and seeing a pair of horned Faunus as they are ushered into a building by a bearded man. She turned to us, who were next to her.

"This is it," she said.

"You sure?" Sun asked.

Blake glared at him and started moving toward the entrance while unfastening her bow.

"Y'know, I'm just gonna take your word for it," Sun said.

"I'll get into action now," I said.

"Go for it," Blake replied.

"If you need me, just find me with your nightvision."

I teleported inside.

One of the White Fang members saw me and didn't attack me; they knew who I was.

He lowered his weapon when I gave him a look and went back to his duty.

The new recruits to the White Fang were moving in a line to the side of the stage, a mere few dozen compared to the hundreds of white-vested, black-hooded soldiers to their left and up above in the balconies. Blake and Sun look around themselves.

Noticing that they saw me, I waved.

When they stopped, a fully-masked man with tattoos stood on the stage and started speaking before the large sheet emblazoned with the bloody wolf and claw marks.

"Thank you all for coming. For those of you who are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours! I can assure you, he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for for so long!" he said.

Roman stepped up, smiling confidently even as the crowd started protesting.

"Thank you, thank you!" he said, mockingly waving.

Neo walked out from behind the sheet.

_Crap! Neo's here!_, I thought. as I got up from the crate I was sitting on.

"Please, hold your applause!" Roman continued.

"What's a **human** doing here?!" a Faunus asked, pointing at him.

"I'm glad you asked, 'Deerie'! Now, I'll be the first to admit, humans... are the _worst_," he replied, saluting as an example. "Case in point. So, I understand why you would like to see us all locked away, or, better yet, _killed_!"

Neo looked bored as she watched him.

"_But_, before the claws come out, I'd like to mention the fact that you and I _all_ have a common enemy: the ones in control, the people pulling the strings, the dirty, rotten humans that run our kingdoms!"

The crowd changed their tune and started agreeing with him.

"Government, military, even the schools: they're all to blame for your lot in life!"

The crowd cheered.

"And they're all _pests_ that need to be dealt with! Fortunately, I'm the best exterminator around... No offense to any rodents in the room."

With a snap of the fingers, the curtain fell, and the whole mass of Faunus applauded at the sight of the Atlesian Paladin-290 behind it, the mark of the White Fang painted on its shoulder.

"As some of you might have heard, this right here…"

He tapped the giant mech.

"...is Atlas' newest defense against all the scary things in the world. And thanks to my 'employer,' we've managed to snag a few before they, uh, 'hit the shelves.' Now, many of your brothers have already moved down to our new operation in the southeast. If you'd rather stay within the city, that's fine... But if you're truly ready to fight for what you believe in, this is the arsenal I can provide you. Any questions?"

The White Fang's roaring applause told him the answer.

"Will all new recruits, please come forward!" the guy from earlier said.

The recruits were marched to the stage, with Blake and Sun having no choice but to follow along.

Roman leaned on the robot, smoking his cigar and laughing as Neo stood beside him. He noticed Blake and Sun and frowned.

Crap, I thought.

Sun tried to smile and wave and Blake looked around for a way out. At the same time, she looked confused when she looked at Neo.

The next thing that happened was that it turned dark.

"Don't let them get away!" Roman yelled.

"Sun! The window!" Blake shouted.

"Stop them!" Roman commanded.

Quickly, I teleported out of the base and in the distance from Sun and Blake as they ran from the Altesian Paladin. My scroll began to ring and I opened my scroll.

"_Everyone! If you can hear me, we need back-" _Blake's scroll-call was interrupted by Sun.

"_HEEEELLLLP! Big robot! And it's big! Really big! That Torchwick guy is in it! But not, like, it didn't eat him; he's, like, controlling it or something!"_

Each time they got close to me, I had to teleport another distance away.

"_Where are you guys?_" Yang asked.

"_HURRYYYY!_" Sun said.

We somehow made it to the highway and I kept teleporting from car to car while Blake and Sun jumped from car to car and Yang and Neptune followed behind the machine.

Neptune reached for his gun, but Roman noticed the pair on his sensors and crashed into a multitude of cars with the Paladin's strong bulk, sending them flying towards his chasers.

Yang swerved, leaning her bike to the side in avoidance of flying debris while Neptune flailed in a panic. Back on two wheels again, Neptune unslung his weapon, aimed as sparks start flying, and fired several bolts of blue electricity at the Paladin.

Switching strategies, Neptune flipped the gun and it grew a shaft and an energy blade at the end, then he jumped from Yang's bike as the spear's head splitted in three and drove it into the top of the Paladin. Sun and Blake paused in their car-hopping to look back.

"Neptune, hang on!" Sun said.

Neptune was trying his best, but the mech kept bucking and threatened to make him fall. Closing his eyes, Sun smashed his palms together, and from the golden Aura around him, his Semblance created two glowing outlines that copied their creator, leaping off and going back over the tops of vehicles to collide into the Paladin's front. They exploded into blinding light upon contact to let Sun leap forward with Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang held high, but Roman finally turned enough to send Neptune flying off and knocking into his leader, sending both of them off the highway.

I saw Weiss twirling over a highway and landing in the middle of the road, holding Myrtenaster at the approaching Roman. Roman charged the girl, but Weiss spun and plunged her blade into the ground, summoning a circle of ice across the pavement that caused the Paladin to slip and crash, actually flying over the young Huntress and falling off the ramp, landing further down before Ruby, already having her Crescent Rose out in scythe form.

The Paladin stood back up, Weiss, Blake, Yang and I fell beside our leader to take up positions. Roman moved the robot slowly towards us.

"_Freezer Burn!_" Ruby commanded.

Ruby, Blake and I jumped back out of the way as Weiss performed her same ice-circle trick, but backed out of Yang's way when she jumped into the air and hit the epicenter with her Ember Celica, creating a wave of mist that surrounded Roman.

Immediately, the Paladin activated its laser sensors to make up for the lost sight, but it barely saw the afterimage of Blake and narrowly missed the dashing Yang. Its gun manages to fire at the area between Blake and Yang, but out from the blast came Ruby, who slashed the metal with her blade, causing it to falter.

"_Checkmate!_"

Blake and Weiss went in this time, each girl going for the feet until Weiss jumped up and stabbed a sensor before leaping off of a white glyph. Roman lifted the Paladin's foot to crush Blake, but Weiss summoned another glyph under her teammate to launch her backwards before the crushing blow could land. Roman fired off the missiles, but Weiss and Blake flipped backwards as the explosions merely hit where they were.

Finally, Weiss jumped up too high, and Roman fired a double energy blast at her. Myrtenaster absorbed the damage, but Weiss was thrown back, so she casted a beam of light from her weapon to the ground under Blake, forming a yellow clockwork circle that absorbed into the Faunus girl and let her slice through each launched missile with ease in a flurry of super-fast slashes.

I teleported Weiss to the ground.

"_Ladybug!_"

Ruby ran into the fray.

She shot herself forward and cutted at the robot's legs, then turned as Blake aimed herself at the giant's feet as well. They both dashed forward and attacked at the same time, circling each other around the Paladin with each strike until they both launched themselves into the air and came down together on the shoulder, cutting off the left arm entirely.

Yang didn't waste a second, jumping onto the Paladin's back and punching the top with fiery shotgun blasts.

Roman ran backwards through two columns and left her embedded in a third before backing away and turning towards her. Just as she was falling down, the remaining arm extended a closed fist, and when it punched her, she flew through the column and didn't get up.

"_Yang!_" Blake shouted.

"Don't worry! With each hit she gets stronger, and she uses that energy to fight back! That's what makes her special," Ruby assured.

Yang slowly got back on her feet, hair burning a brilliant white as she clenched her fists. Roman threw a punch, but Yang catched it in her own hand despite the ground cracking beneath her and, eyes red with rage, smashed her knuckles into the second arm, obliterating it under her force.

Getting desperate with his armless robot, Roman immediately kicks Yang to the side.

"_Baked Alaska!_" Ruby commanded.

I created an illusion of Yang and quickly teleported her away before she could get hit.

"_Bumblebee!_"

Yang jumped toward Blake and Blake threw her Gambol Shroud out for Yang to catch while in the air, and the Faunus used the momentum to swing the glowing girl around for a final hit to the robot. Roman, however, stepped out of the way just in time to avoid complete destruction.

"We have to slow it down!" Ruby said.

"And _how_ do you propose we do that?" asked Weiss.

"_Ice Flower!_"

Twirling their weapons so they both point at Roman, Weiss created a series of glyphs in front of the Crescent Rose's sniper barrel, and a single shot through the circles created a dazzling spiral of energy that created large icicles upon impact with the Paladin.

Ruby continued to shoot as Weiss freezed the fire, and as the ice completely enveloped the robot's body, Blake swung her partner around in a circle one more time, but with Roman unable to move, the Paladin was hit by the speed and power of Yang's fists, flying into the air before crashing down in a hundred pieces and a defeated criminal.

Roman got up, brushing himself off and inspecting the damage, saying, "_Just _got this thing cleaned…"

He looked up just in time to see Yang, still burning with her absorbed power, fired a single shot at the defenseless thief, but he was saved at the last instant when a very familiar umbrella blocked the hit. Neo hung the weapon over her shoulder as Roman addressed us.

Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang looked back at me, confused.

I took a step back.

"Ladies, Ice Queen…" Roman said.

"Hey!" Weiss responded.

"Always a pleasure! Neo, if you would…"

Neo's smile faltered for a second.

She curtsied to us with a bow, but Yang wouldn't have none of it, charging forth with fists raised to strike the two... only to break their image as if made out of a mirror and turned just in time to see them escape in a Bullhead.

Ruby, Weiss, Blake and a now cooled down Yang looked at me, questions written all over their faces.

"Moni? What's going on?" Ruby asked.

I looked at all four of them, a worried and sorrowful expression on my face with my eyes strawberry pink.

I mouthed, "I'm sorry. Goodbye."

Jumping backwards to teleport away, Ruby ran toward me and shouted, "Wai-"

But I had already teleported away.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

"Wait!" Ruby shouted, running toward Moni.

Before she could finish saying it, Moni teleported away.

"Moni…" she said.

"So, I guess Moni had been associated with Torchwick all this time," Yang said, looking at the ground.

"She was a spy for them," Weiss said.

"But it makes no sense! Moni is human! She can't be with the White Fang!" Blake said.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

When the team, excluding Moni, arrived back at the dorm.

All four of them sat on their beds in silence. That is, until Blake noticed something hiding under Moni's pillow.

Blake got up and the other three's attention turned to her.

"Blake?" Ruby said.

"There's something under her pillow…" Blake replied.

She reached for it and pulled it out.

It was a photo of Moni and the girl from earlier in a brown picture frame.

She showed it to her teammates and Yang said, "That's the girl from earlier!"

The two were smiling happily in the photo.

"I think that girl's Moni's twin sister," Blake said.

"That's pretty obvious, considering the fact that they look the same," Weiss replied.

"I hope Moni comes back soon though…" Ruby said.

All four were concerned about the truth of Moni. Questions and assumptions went through their heads for the entire night until they fell asleep.

* * *

N/A: And so, Moni has been discovered. See you in the next! As always, leave a review if you'd like or follow!


	5. Chapter 5 Volume 2

N/A: This chapter reveals a part of Moni's past.

Edit: I have just received news that Monty Oum (Creator of RWBY) has died. We will all miss and never forget him. May Monty kindly scatter.

* * *

Chapter 5: Remnants of the Past

When I finished my entire report of what happened at Beacon to Cinder, I expected her to be angry at me, but all what she did was stroke my hair once.

"You did well, Moni," she said, her voice calm.

"But I failed! I was discovered!" I replied.

"It's all right, Moni. I knew you'd get caught soon anyways," she said. "Mercury, Emerald and I, as you saw, are undercovering as Haven students. We've got everything in control."

"I understand."

"Good. You're excused."

I walked to the apartment in silence, thinking about my teammates.

_They probably hate me now_, I thought. _They probably won't forgive me. I don't blame them though, I deserve it. Of all things, why did we have to be found by Cinder? Why couldn't we have been found by someone else?_

Upon arriving back home after a long time; Neo gave me a big hug and I stroked her hair.

"Are you okay?" her eyes told me.

I nodded and said, "I regret going on this mission though."

"Why?"

"They've made me realized that we aren't on the right side."

"What're their names?"

"The one with the red hood is named Ruby Rose, she's our leader. The one Roman calls 'Ice Queen' is Weiss Schnee. The one with black hair is Blake Belladonna, she's a Faunus. The blonde one is Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's older sister."

"Can you tell me the fun and cool parts?"

I chuckled and told her about the battle against the Nevermore and Death Stalker, the food fight and the battle against Roman in the Atlesian Paladin.

She was awed by all the stories; I could tell by her expressions.

We went to bed around eleven.

Neo was fast-asleep but I stayed awake.

Getting out of bed, I looked out the window wall to the starry night sky and shattered moon.

_Even though we're under the same sky, we're so far away from each other_, I thought.

I recalled the past of when we were homeless and poor.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Neo and I sat in an alleyway, holding hands tightly.

Her chocolate brown eyes looked at my own, telling me, "I'm hungry."

I ripped our last baguette in half and gave one piece to her and saved the other piece.

"It's a little hard, but it's still good, right?" I asked.

She took a bite and nodded while chewing.

After she was done, we headed to the market area where good smells emitted from.

Stealing bread was easy if I had enough aura to create an illusion of myself or teleport away. Creating an illusion of myself was much more less troublesome than teleporting.

We saw the bread shop and took our places.

Neo hid in the shop next to it and I stepped up to the owner.

"Excuse me, but do you know if there's a flower shop around here?" I asked.

"Hmmm… I'm not sure, but I think I remember that it was over there," the owner said, pointing to the right.

While I distracted him, Neo snatched two baguettes and I headed to where he pointed, saying, "Thanks Mister."

Neo got away without anyone noticing her and we smiled at each other, one eye changing color, and high-fived.

We sat in the shade and split the baguette. We ate our bread and I watched as countless people or hunters/huntresses passed by without care.

"Hey! You're that little girl with weird hair!" a familiar voice yelled. "Give me back the bread you and your partner stole our you'll pay the price."

It was the owner of the bread shop.

_Crap, I don't have enough aura_, I thought.

I didn't speak and we got up. I stood in front of Neo to protect her.

"We don't have any money," I said.

"No money? Then you'll get a good beating out of it!"

I braced for the slap as his hand came, but I didn't feel it.

Opening my eyes, I saw a woman in a white cloak in front of me, holding back the owner's hand.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"These children stole from me!" he replied.

"How much?"

"Pardon?"

"How much do I have to pay for them?"

"You… Twenty lien."

The woman handed him the amount and he left, saying, "Tch."

She turned around and looked at us.

The woman had black hair with a red tint to it. She had silver eyes and wore a white cloak with a red lining.

"Are you two alright?" she asked.

We nodded.

"Thank you, Miss," I said.

"It's Summer. Summer Rose."

"Oh. I mean, thank you Miss Rose."

"It's all right. You can just call me Summer."

She looked over to Neo, seemingly waiting for her to say something.

"Ah, um, she's a mute," I said.

"Oh. My apologies."

"It's okay."

"You two remind me of my own daughters," Miss Summer said.

"Really? What're their names?"

"My youngest daughter's name is Ruby and my oldest daughter's name is Yang."

"I see."

"I don't have much to give, but here."

She held out her arm and produced two thornless roses. One was pink and the other was white. I was amazed.

Miss Summer handed me the pink one and handed the white one to Neo.

"What are your names?" she asked.

"I'm Moni and that's Neo. How did you do that?"

"That's my Semblance. I can control nature and create plant life."

"Wow."

"Sorry, Moni, Neo, but I have to get going or I'll be late for my mission."

I nodded. "See you again someday."

She waved goodbye and we waved back at the huntress.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Neo and I walked up to the memorial tombstone in the cold snow when everybody had left.

"_Summer Rose_

_Thus Kindly I Scatter_"

We laid the roses next to a black and white rose and touched the tombstone.

Closing our eyes, we said our prayers.

"Wherever the wind takes you, I hope it's a good place, Miss Summer. Thank you for saving us a few days ago. May you kindly scatter."

We simultaneously opened our eyes and removed our hand from the tombstone.

Leaving hand in hand, I turned around to look at Miss Summer's resting place for one last time.

When I turned around, I saw her. Her white cloak flowed and dispersed white petals. When I blinked, she was gone.

I smiled.

"May you kindly scatter," I repeated.

* * *

N/A: If you've read Those Silver Eyes, you would know that I used OldSchoolVinny's version of Summer Rose. If you haven't read Those Silver Eyes yet, I highly recommend that you read it. It is a beautiful and heartbreaking story of how Vinny imagined her death, which made me cry. Leave a review or follow if you'd like. Now, if you can excuse me...


	6. Chapter 6-8 Volume 2

N/A: I can still feel the pain of discovering that Monty is gone. Chapter 7 is dedicated to him because I have put the song lyrics of "Wings" in there.

* * *

Chapter 6: Burning the Candle

I waved goodbye to Neo, who was heading out to her usual task.

She waved back and disappeared.

I sighed and walked in the city of Vale.

The same thoughts swarmed around my head again and gave me a headache. I thought about what Cinder told me earlier today.

"_If you want to go to the dance, go ahead. But if it happens that your teammates decide to turn you in, escape from them. If they accept who you are, stay with them. I'm curious about the red one."_

Sighing again, I made my decision.

_I'm going back._

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

I followed behind Mercury and Emerald, in a strawberry pink dress.

"You guys are just in time," I heard Yang say.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Mercury replied.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Chapter 7: Dance Dance Infiltration

Four pairs of eyes looked at me, wide.

"I'm… I'm back," I said, trying my best to not falter.

"You came back!" Yang exclaimed.

She hugged me and I felt like I was being squeezed to death.

The other three came over and Ruby joined Yang.

"Moni!" she said.

"We were really worried about you," Blake said.

"Don't you ever disappear on us like that! You hear?" Weiss said.

"Can't… breathe…" I said.

The sisters let me go and I managed to breathe.

"I won't," I replied to Weiss, clearing my throat. "I'm sorry, for everything."

"We forgive you," Ruby said, smiling.

This time, my entire team hugged me. I was really surprised that Weiss joined in as well because she didn't really seem like the hug type of person.

I talked with Ruby as we watched Blake and Sun dance.

After that, I went to get some punch.

Someone tapped my shoulder and I looked behind me.

"Care for a dance?" Mercury asked.

"Only one," I replied.

While we danced, we talked.

"How's little Neo?"

"Good. How's Emerald?"

"As usual, no fun."

I lightly laughed.

"When are we going to finish that duel?" he asked.

"You still remember that? That was, like, two months ago."

"Did I tell you I went against the famous Pyrrha Nikos?"

"Who won?"

"I forfeited because I discovered her semblance."

"Polarity."

"She's been added to the list for your information."

"I see," I said, keeping my smile still.

My shoulder was tapped again and I looked into those very familiar glowing yellow-orange eyes.

"So you decided to come after all," Cinder said.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," I replied.

"Mind if I cut in?"

"Go ahead, Cinder."

I went out to the balcony.

"So, do you mind if I steal your first dance?" I asked Neo, who was sitting at the side of the balcony in a vanilla white dress.

She smiled and curtseyed.

I smiled back and held out my hand to her. She took it and we began our dance under the stars and shattered moon.

After a while, we stopped.

I looked at the clock as it rang midnight.

"I have to go on the stage, you should listen," I told her.

She nodded.

I walked to the stage and on my way there, I winked at Weiss and she responded with a surprised face.

The reason why I winked at her was because I had told her I had a secret plan for the dance.

I grabbed a microphone and students looked at me.

Taking a deep breath, the music started.

"One life,

Is not a long time,

When you're waiting,

For a small sign.

Patience,

Is hard to find.

Shadows,

Seem to fill your life.

Don't be disappointed,

Don't let your heart break.

Don't spend another minute,

In this way.

It's okay."

Students began to continue dancing.

"Dry your eyes now, baby;

Broken wings won't hold you down.

You'll take flight soon, baby.

You'll be lifted up,

And you'll be there

Twelve hours,

Is a long night.

When you're searching,

With no hope in sight.

Aimless,

On the inside;

And the damage,

Makes you want to hide.

I know that it seems pointless,

I know that it feels fake.

I know you can't stand the thought of,

Being stray,

One more day.

Dry your eyes now, baby;

Broken wings won't hold you down.

You'll take flight soon, baby.

You'll be lifted up,

And you'll be there."

They clapped and there were some whistles.

I looked over to Neo, who was smiling.

_From now on, Neo and I are going to be on the right side._

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Chapter 8: Field Trip

Ruby had just finished explaining to us what she told Headmaster Ozpin.

"That was a risky move," Weiss said, her arms crossed.

"No, I think you handled it well," Blake said.

"I agree with Blake," I said.

"I hope so," Ruby replied.

"I'm sure everything will be alright, Ruby. Oh, I know what will cheer you up!" said Yang.

She grabbed the cylindrical package that was sitting on the desk.

"What's that?" asked Ruby.

"I don't know yet. Dad sent it to us. And I thought we could open it together!"

"Ooooh! Something from home!"

Ruby zoomed over to Yang and wrapped herself around her, trying to take the cylindrical package from her. The package opened, and another cylinder, hairy and black, fell out onto the floor and started to shake. The object suddenly transformed into a corgi. We leaned in, staring at it.

The animal barked twice. While Weiss, Blake and I continued to react with great shock, Ruby and Yang reacted excitedly, with Ruby jumping in the air. Ruby posed as she shouted the dog's name.

"Zwei!"

"He sent a dog?" said Blake.

"In the mail?" said Weiss.

"How did the dog fit in there?" I asked.

"Oh, he does stuff like this all the time!" Yang replied to the three of us.

Blake disappeared, and was now on Ruby's bunk.

"Your father or your dog?" asked Blake.

"Are you telling me that this mangy…" Weiss said, "drooling... mutt is gonna wiv wif us foweva? Oh, yes he is, oh yes he is! Oh, isn't he adorable!"

I was shocked to the core at what Weiss just said.

For the first time, I actually thought she was cute, I thought.

"Please keep him away from my belongings," Blake said.

"Like this?" I replied, waving the famous "Ninjas of Love" in my hand.

She blushed hard, which made everyone in the room's attention turn to the book in my hand.

"Would you care to tell us what it's contents are? Blake?" I said.

"Will all first-year students please report to the amphitheater?" we heard Professor Goodwitch's voice say in the intercom.

Blake sighed in relief.

"Well, we can't exactly leave him here while we're gone for the week," Weiss said, switching the subject to Zwei.

Ruby setted Zwei down and he walked over to Blake, who was still on the top bunk, and barked.

"Look, there's a letter!" Yang said. "'Dear girls, I've got to leave the island for a few days, so I'm sending Zwei today for you to take care of. Enclosed is all the food you should need. Love you both, Taiyang."

Zwei ran to Yang and dozens of cans of dog food spilled out of the small package, piling up around him.

"How did he- what in the-" I sighed. "I give up."

"What is he supposed to do with all of that?" asked Weiss.

A can opener fell from the package, bouncing off Zwei's head.

"Well, that settles it! Come on girls, Zwei will be here when we get back!" said Yang.

"Oh, I'll miss you so much, we're going to be best friends, I can't wait to see you, I can't believe how cute you are," Weiss said we were leaving, her speech deteriorating into incomprehensible baby talk.

These are some new sides I'm seeing of Weiss, I thought.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Ruby was mysteriously wearing a large backpack as we entered the auditorium with other students. She then put it down next to other students' luggage before rejoining her us, who are standing in front of Team JNPR.

"Quiet! Quiet please. Professor Ozpin would like to share a few words before we begin," Professor Goodwitch said.

"Today we stand together, united. Mistral. Atlas. Vacuo. Vale. The four Kingdoms of Remnant. On this day, nearly eighty years ago, the largest war in recorded history came to an end. It was a war of ignorance, of greed, and of oppression. A war that was about much more than when borders fell or who traded with who, but the very idea of individualism itself. We fought for countless reasons, one of which being the countless destruction of all forms of art or self-expression," Headmaster Ozpin said. " And as you are all aware, that is something many could not stand for. As a result, those who opposed this tyranny began naming their children after one of the core aspects of art itself: color. It was their way to demonstrate that they refused to tolerate this oppression, but neither were the generations to come. And it was a trend that was held to this very day. We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity through diversity. As I have said, today we stand together, united. But this bond cannot exist without effort. Which is why today, while the rest of this world celebrates peace, Huntsmen and Huntresses will work to uphold it. As first year students, you will be tasked with shadowing a professional Huntsman or Huntress on a mission. Some of you may be taken out of the Kingdom for several days. Others may work within the walls for the rest of the week. But no matter which path you choose, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best."

He stepped away as we all began to file out of the amphitheater.

"This is perfect! All we have to do is shadow a Huntsman working in the southeast!" Ruby said.

"Yeah! We'll follow him by day and give him the slip by night!" replied Yang.

"Let's check search and destroy!" Weiss said.

We approached a hologram screen.

"Here we go! Quadrant Five needs Grimm cleared out!" said Ruby.

"Well, it's in the southeast!" Blake said.

"Sounds perfect!" Yang said.

Ruby selected it and typed in our team name. However, the screen said that first years were not allowed to take the mission.

"Wonderful!" Weiss said.

"Any other ideas?" asked Blake.

"We mail ourselves there!" suggested Ruby.

"Pfft," I said, trying to hold my laugh.

"Well, that's one option," we heard Headmaster Ozpin say, suddenly appearing. "Unfortunately, we determined that the concentration of Grimm was too extreme for first-year students. It seems that particular region is popular. In fact, I have the sneaking suspicion that you four will make your way there no matter which job you choose."

We glared at Ruby, who nervously rubbed her head.

"Whatever makes you say that?" she asked.

"I'm still curious how you found yourself at the docks last semester. I'm interested to learn how you really know about a hideout in the southeast. And I certainly wonder why witnesses reported seeing robots and rose petals in a dance club some time ago," he replied.

"Um... well…"

"I doubt I'll ever find the exact answers we're looking for. So how about this: instead of waiting for you all to break the rules, why don't we just bend them?

He selected some things on his scroll, and the hologram screen made a noise.

"We won't let you down. Thank you, professor," said Ruby.

"Do not thank me for this. Teamwork and persistence have carried you far. But you must understand, the things that await you beyond the protection of the Kingdom will not care. Stay close to your Huntsman at all times. And do exactly as he says. He will be leading you on this mission, and he can have you sent back to Beacon, if he finds your skills to be unsatisfactory."

He walked away and the five of us exchanged looks.

Then he came back to say, "Good luck."

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

We had left the auditorium and were on their way to the airship that would take us to Quadrant Five.

"That wasn't exactly uplifting," said Yang.

"But it's the truth," replied Blake.

"I know it's going to be tough, but we can do it!" Ruby said.

A student ran past us.

"Hey! Team CFVY is back!" he said.

Beacon students gathered around to witness the return of Team CFVY. Blake went up to Velvet Scarlatina.

"Velvet? Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine. I had Yatsuhashi to look out for me," Velvet replied.

"Your mission was supposed to end a week ago! What happened?" asked Weiss.

"Nothing happened. There were just... so many…"

She looked up and noticed our worried expressions.

"But don't worry. You first-years are just shadowing Huntsmen, so you should be fine."

"Right," replied Yang.

"I should go. Be safe, okay?" Velvet farewelled, going back to follow her team.

"We can do this. We've never backed down before, and we're not going to start now," our leader said.

"Right," Blake replied.

"Besides, it won't only be us out there! We'll be fighting alongside a genuine Huntsman!"

"Yeah!" said Yang.

A few minutes later, we were staring at our "genuine Huntsman" with various stunned expressions.

"Why, hello girls. Who's ready to fight for their lives?" Professor Oobleck asked.

"Someone pinch me," I said.

Ruby pinched my arm lightly.

"Okay, this isn't a dream then," I said. Then I whispered, "Of all Professors, why him?"

* * *

N/A: See ya in the next!


	7. Chapter 9-11 Volume 2

N/A: We are nearing the end... Also, Words and letters, I think of "Wings" like a message from Monty to us. If you guys would like to, please check out May You Kindly Scatter. It's my thoughts of Monty's death.

* * *

Chapter 9: Search and Destroy

"Professor Oobleck?" said Weiss.

"Yes, I'm afraid those bags won't be necessary, girls, seeing as you've opted to shadow a Huntsman on what is now essentially a reconnaissance mission," Professor Oobleck said, talking fast, per the norm, as he paced in front of us. "I can assure you, we will not be establishing a single base of operations; rather, we will be traversing several miles of hazardous wasteland and making camp in any defendable locations we may stumble upon. I packed all of our essentials myself, plotted our air course, and readied the airship. And…"

He zoomed up to Weiss' face.

"It's **Doctor** Oobleck. I didn't earn the PhD for _fun_, thank you very much!"

Pro- I mean _Doctor_ Oobleck quickly backed away.  
Weiss looked over at Blake who was equally disturbed.

"Uhhh…" she said.

"Come now, children; according to my schedule, we are already three minutes behind!" he continued.

Then, as an afterthought to clarify: " ...schedule!"

He zipped off to the airship docked farther ahead within a second.

"Well, alright, then! Looks like we're going to save the world with Doctor Oooobleck- okay yeah when you say it out loud it sounds worse," Ruby said, positively and upbeat before suddenly becoming depressed as us halfway through.

"**Save the world?**" Nora asked.

We turned around to see Nora and Team JNPR approach us.

"You're going on world-saving missions without us? I'm hurt... sad! Maybe a little hungry? That last one's not your fault, though, **Ren**…" she dramatically said.

Ren simply crossed his arms and turned away.

"Sounds exciting. Where ya going?" Jaune asked.

"Oh, just outside the kingdom…" answered Ruby.

"Hey! So are we!" Nora said.

"Ren and Nora wanted to shadow the sheriff of a nearby village," Pyrrha explained.

"We set out tomorrow," Ren said.

"Then you can party with us tonight!" Neptune said, approaching us along with Sun. "We're shadowing a crime specialist. All inner-city detective stuff. We get junior badges."

Jaune was awestruck.

"We normally go to the city with you guys, _which_ means stuff's always exploding and junk, so we thought this might be a better way to check out the kingdom when it's, you know... normal," explained Sun.

"Well-" Ruby started.

Doctor Oobleck appeared from the airship to call to us, who were embarrassed:

"_Four_ minutes, ladies!" he said and then went back inside as our friends smile awkwardly at us.

"Well, uh…" Ruby said, throwing a thumbs-up. "Wish us luck!"

And with that, our friends disbanded, either back to Beacon Academy or towards their mission.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

We were now in the airship flying over buildings and streets amid deafening turbines.

"I guess I just never saw you as much of a fighter," Yang said to Doctor Oobleck.

"I admit I fancy myself more of an intellectual, but I can assure you, as a Huntsman, I've had my fair share of tussles," he replied to her.

"Like the mushroom?" asked Ruby, tilting her head in confusion

"Those are truffles," replied Blake, leaning over to her.

"Like the sprout?" Ruby asked, still scratching her head in befuddlement.

"Those are Brussels," Yang replied, also leaning over.

"Are they supposed to rhyme?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe," replied Blake.

"Besides, given my expertise in the field of history as well as my dabblings in the archaeological surveys, our dear headmaster saw fit to assign me to this particular... assignment!" Doctor Oobleck continued.

"What does history have to do with this?" Weiss asked.

"Why, what a preposterous question, you silly girl! Why, history is the backbone of our very society! And the liver! Probably the kidneys, if I were to wager," he replied, turning sharply on Weiss.

"And that means..?"

"The southeast quadrant outside of Vale is home to wild forests and deep caves, _but_ it is also the location to one of the kingdom's greatest failures!"

"Mountain Glenn," Ruby said.

"That's right! It was an expansion of Vale... but in the end it was overrun by Grimm and fenced off from the rest of the city," said Yang.

"Correct! And now it stands abandoned as a dark reminder," Doctor Oobleck replied to both of them.

"And a likely place for a hideout," Blake said.

"Precisely!" he replied, adjusting his glasses and smiling.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

The airship came in over a spot of streets amidst the ruined buildings and structures of the ruined area. It hovered right above the ground as we all jump out of the craft with weapons drawn, minus Doctor Oobleck, who simply held his coffee canister, before the ship flew away from the destruction.

"Ladies! You still may be students, but as of this moment, your first mission as Huntresses has begun! From this point forward, you need to do exactly as I say! Do you understand?" he asked, calling our attention.

We nodded, but he suddenly looked at Ruby, startling her.

"**Ruby!** I thought I told you to leave all of your bags back at school," Doctor Oobleck said.

"But, uh, you hadn't told us to listen to you yet. So I didn't," replied Ruby.

"She's not wrong…" he said to himself. "Very well, Ruby; leave your bag here, we can pick it up upon our return."

"But I, well uh-"

"Young lady, what in the world could you possibly have in that bag that could be so important to bring it with…"

He stopped as the bag's zipper opened and out popped Zwei's head, causing everyone to stare at the uninvited guest.

"Ruby…" I mouthed.

"Get back in the bag," Ruby whispered to Zwei through the side of her mouth.

Zwei merely barked in response.

"We're here to investigate an abandoned urban jungle teeming with death and hostility, and you brought... a _dog_?"

"I, uhh…"

"Genius!"

Doctor Oobleck backed away long enough for Ruby to give us a confused shrug before speeding past and snatching the pet away from Ruby, who tumbled to the ground as Doctor Oobleck spun Zwei in the air.

"Canines are historically known for their perceptive nose and heightened sense of sound, making them excellent companions for a hunt such as ours!" he said.

Zwei barked happily in his hands.

"I'm a genius!" Ruby proudly stated after being stunned from the unexpected reaction.

Weiss, Yang and facepalmed at our grinning leader.

"So, what are your orders, Doctor?" asked Blake.

Ah, yes, straight to the chase; I like it!" he replied.

He suddenly let go of Zwei, who suspended in the air for less than a second before dropping down, to put his hands behind his back for a serious pose.

"As you've been informed, the southeast area has been marked as a recent hotspot for Grimm activity. Now, there are several possible explanations for this behavior, one of which being... Grimm," he continued.

"Uh, what?" asked Ruby, just as confused as us for the redundancy.

"Grimm. A creature of Grimm approximately one hundred yards from us at this very moment," he replied.

"What?!" said Yang.

We turned around at the lone Beowolf wandering into the street, unleashing our weapons.

"Stop!" Doctor Oobleck said.

"Huh?" replied Blake.

We lowered our weapons.

"There are a number of reasons why Grimm will congregate in this particular area, the most likely of which will be their attraction to negativity: sadness, envy, loneliness, hatred. All qualities that are likely held by our hidden group harboring ill intent," he explained.

"So... What now?" asked Ruby.

"We wait. We track. If this specimen leads us to its pack, that pack may subsequently lead us to our prey."

"How long do we wait?" Blake asked.

"It's uncertain. Hours, days, weeks. Why, lone Grimm have been known to stay isolated from the pack for months - and there's the whole pack."

His sudden realization was true: Five Beowolves were already following the first.

"What?" replied Weiss.

"And now they've seen us," Doctor Oobleck continued, stating the obvious.

"What?!" said Weiss, louder.

"**And now they've seen us!**" Doctor Oobleck shouted in Weiss' ear.

"I take it tracking them is out of the question?" asked Ruby.

"An accurate assumption, yes," he replied.

"What's the plan, then?" asked Yang.

We turned to our teacher as the creatures closed in.

"Show me what you're capable of," he replied.

"Cover your ears, Zwei!" Ruby said, swinging Crescent Rose to prepare it for shooting.

Zwei did so, curling up into a ball.

I walked forward with my usual smug expression and taunting eyes that changed colors.

As the leader swiped at me, I blocked it with my umbrella and shot it in the throat. It's lifeless body started to disperse slowly as I backflipped to dodge an attack from another one. Kicking away an attack from the beast, I quickly unsheathed my sword and stabbed it in the chest. A little outnumbered, I ran toward where Yang was.

A single Beowolf and a smiling Yang ran towards one another, ending with the blonde knocking it out in one fiery punch as they passed.

I created an illusion and teleported away from the several that were following me.

They ran into the illusion and it shattered. The group looked to the left, where Blake was and focused on her.

Blake stood and waited with her hand on her hilt until one of the enemy swiped at her afterimage, the real deal slicing her would-be attacker in half before slashing through another and cutting down on one more.

Behind the Faunus, Weiss ran from several black-coated beasts before jumping in the air and taking one down with Myrtenaster. She dashed towards them with rapier held high and slayed four of them in a straight line until she stopped.

A wave of Beowolves were converging on Ruby, but the scythe wielder shot multiple bullets at the oncoming force... while Zwei was busy chasing his own tail. He stopped to watch his owner fire forward and, after a dramatic mid-air stare-off, cut the single remaining Grimm in two.

"Heh. Piece of cake!" Ruby said, lifting her weapon.

"Do not celebrate yet, for I am certain this is the first bout of many. Shall we continue?" replied Doctor Oobleck.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

We continued to slay more and more creatures of Grimm, getting exhausted as the time ticked.

"Excellent work, girls! Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any signs of criminal operations in this sector. Oh, well! Moving on!" Doctor Oobleck happily cried as the newest batch of monster corpses started smoking.

"Hey, Doc, y'know, I was actually looking forward to seeing a 'pro Huntsman' in action. Like, _fighting_, or at least, _helping_ us fight?" irritably asked Yang as we followed him.

"Ah, but I _am_ in action! Scouring the ruins of this once-great city for any signs of irregularity!" he replied over his shoulder.

He fully turned to us.

"Not every mission is filled with daring and heroism, girls. Sometimes it's just a heightened form of extermination!"

Yang had a reluctant-accepting face as Doctor Oobleck's had a serious rebuttal.

"Remember, this is a job, and you all signed up for it. I do hope you understand that."

"Well, yeah…" Yang replied, trying to sound more resolute with her answer. "O-Of course!"

"Hmmm…"

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Doctor Oobleck threw his bag over to Yang, who made a sound when she caught it.

"You four, set up camp in that building. Oh, and please do make sure there are no more of those... creatures. Your leader and I are going to secure the perimeter. Come, Ruby," he said.

Ruby and him started walking away from the rest of us, Weiss, Blake and Yang looking at our leader, seemingly knowing what he's going to talk about with her.

With silence, I teleported to the top of the building with my umbrella hanging on my shoulder and looked around to make sure creatures of Grimm weren't around while my teammates made a fire.

They huddled around it or stood up as I jumped off and landed on the ground.

"I can't believe we didn't find _anything_…" said Yang.

"We've always been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time. I guess we can't always have luck on our side," Blake replied.

"That's not what I meant," Weiss said, off-topic.

"Huh?" replied Blake.

"Earlier, about... upholding the legacy. There's more to it than that."

"Yeah... No, me too. I mean... I don't know," Yang replied.

"I don't know, either. I know what I _want_ to do, but I figured I'd always take things one step at a time," Blake said. "Did he ask you any questions, Moni?"

I shook my head.

"Nothing at all."

"Well, it doesn't matter. _We_ know why we're here. Right?" asked Yang.

The three merely stared in silence.

"Ah, wonderful; a textbook campfire!" Doctor Oobleck said, suddenly rushing into the room.

"Fire!" Ruby said, coming in from behind the doctor.

She immediately sat next to the blaze alongside Zwei.

"So... warm…"

"Very good! Eat your dinners and hurry to bed. We have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow and we'll need you to take turns keeping watch over our temporary abode. Any volunteers for first watch?" asked Doctor Oobleck.

"Yo," Ruby simply answered, lifting an arm while still looking into the fire.

Oobleck rushed off, and she got up to go over to her lookout point.

"Hey, did Oobleck ask you why you wanted to be a Huntress? I mean... what did you tell him?" Yang asked as her sister passed by, stopping her.

Hmm... No, he didn't. Weird. Oh, well; good night, guys!" she replied.

Without a second carefree thought, she continued on her way.

Yang looked disappointed in the lack of an answer.

Blake was similarly troubled as she unrolled her mat, Weiss tried lying down but failed to sleep, Yang half-heatedly ate her dinner of bread rolls.

Soon, all three of them were on their backs around the fire, weapons within easy access.

I shrugged and laid down to get some rest.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Chapter 10: Mountain Glenn

Just when I thought I would finally fall asleep…

"Blake, are you awake?" I heard Yang ask.

"Yeah," Blake replied.

"Why do you think he asked us about being a Huntress? Like, what was he trying to say?"

"Maybe he was just curious."

"You think?"

"No."

"Weiss, are you awake?"

"Of course I'm awake! You two are talking," Weiss replied. "And I think he... When I said I wanted to honor my family's name, I meant it. But, it's not what you think. I'm not stupid. I'm fully aware of what my father has done with the Schnee Dust Company. Since he took control, our business has operated in a... moral gray area."

"That's putting it lightly," Blake said.

"Which is why I feel the need to make things right. If I had taken a job in Atlas, it wouldn't have changed anything. My father was not the start of our name, and I refuse to let him be the end of it."

"All my life, I fought for what I thought was right. I had a partner named Adam. More of a mentor, actually. He always assured me that what we were doing would make the world a better place. But of course, his idea of a perfect future turned out to be not perfect for everyone. I joined the Academy because I knew that Huntsmen and Huntresses were regarded as the most noble warriors in the world. Always fighting for good. But I never really thought past that. When I leave the Academy, what will I - how can I undo so many years of hate?"

"I'm sure you'd figure it out. You're not one to back down from a challenge, Blake," Yang replied.

"But I am! I do it all the time! When you learned I was a Faunus, I didn't know what to do, so I ran! When I realized my oldest partner had become a monster, I ran! Even my Semblance! I was born with the ability to leap behind a shadow of myself; an empty copy that takes the hit while I run away!"

"At least you two have something that drives you. I've just kinda of always, gone with the flow, y'know? And that's fine, I mean, that's who I am. But how long can I really do that for? I wanna be a Huntress, not really because I want to be a hero, but because I want the adventure. I want a life where I won't know what tomorrow will bring. And that'll be a good thing. Being a Huntress just happens to line up with that," Yang explained. "I'm not like Ruby, she's always wanted to be a Huntress. It's like she said, ever since she was a kid, she'd dreamt about being the heroes in the books. Helping people and saving the day, and never asking for anything else in return. Even when she couldn't fight, she _knew _that's what she wanted to do. That's why she trained so hard to get where she is today."

_If only the world could be like fairytales…_, I thought.

"Well, she's still just a kid," Weiss replied.

"She and Moni is only two years younger. We're all kids," Blake said.

"Well, not anymore. I mean, look where we are! In the middle of a warzone and armed to the teeth!" Yang replied.

"It's the life we chose," Blake said.

"It's a job. We all had this romanticized vision of being a Huntress in our heads! But at the end of the day, it's a job to protect the people! And whatever we want, will have to come second," Weiss said.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

"Hey, where's Ruby?" I heard Yang ask.

I sat up and looked around.

"What?" Doctor Oobleck asked, appearing at the doorway.

Zwei came running into the room, barking.

"Zwei?" Yang said.

"What's going on?" Blake asked.

"Grab your weapons! Your leader may be in trouble," Doctor Oobleck said.

Zwei lead us to a hole and Yang spotted Crescent Rose next to the hole.

"Ruby's scythe!" she said.

"Oh no," said Blake.

"Do you think she fell?" Weiss asked.

"Hopefully she's okay," I said.

"Fell?" Doctor Oobleck said, looking up.

"Down there," Weiss replied.

"Oh my. Of course! Of course, OF COURSE, OF COURSE!" he said, looking down at the hole.

"What is it?" asked Blake.

"How could I be so stupid?!

"Dr. Oobleck, what's wrong?" Yang asked.

"Mountain Glenn! Yes, an expansion of Vale that was inevitably destroyed by creatures of Grimm! Previously home to thousands of people! Working people commuting to the city, the main city! Developed a subway system to the inner city! Grimm attacks increased! Population in danger, now desperately searching for shelter! City evacuates into the metro tunnels and what do they find? The southeast quadrant of Vale is known for wild forests and deep caves!"

"Doc, what are you saying?" Yang asked.

"My dear, we're not just looking for an underground crime network, we're looking for an UNDERGROUND crime network!"

"They've been working in caves?" Blake asked.

"No, no, Mountain Glenn was Vale's first serious attempt at expansion. It worked for a short period of time, thanks to an aggressive perimeter defense, and unique transportation; the city developed an elaborate subway system to carry citizens safely from the new territory into the main Kingdom! Sadly, without the many natural barriers Vale had to protect its borders, Mountain Glenn was doomed from the start! As the end drew near, the citizens of the territory made one last attempt at survival: They took up shelter beneath the city! In massive caves that they had cleared out for the subway. And they had cut themselves off from the surface!"

"An underground village?" asked Yang.

"In a matter of speaking, yes. A safe haven. Until... an explosion opened the mouth of another cavern, filled with subterranean Grimm. After that, the Kingdom officially sealed off the tunnels, creating the world's largest tomb. If Ruby is down there," he deployed his weapon, "we must find her…"

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Chapter 11: No Brakes

Multiple White Fang members fired at us but we dodged them all.

As we ran around the corner, we saw Ruby running towards us.

"Somebody kill her!" I heard Roman yell.

Him and the White Fang members opened fire on Ruby, who dodged and weaved between.

She screeched to a halt as she realized she was running towards a group of White Fang members.

Yang shot below them, sending them flying.

"Ruby!" Yang said as Ruby jumped into her arms.

"Are you okay?" Weiss asked.

"I'm fine, I'm fine! But listen! Torchwick's got all kinds of weapons and robots down there," Ruby replied.

"What?!" Blake said.

She handed Ruby her weapon.

"Androids, mechs, they're all loaded up on the train cars!" Ruby said.

"I didn't hear any of this from them," I said.

"Ahhhh, that's ridiculous. These tunnels are sealed, the tracks lead to a dead-end," Doctor Oobleck replied.

"Get to your places, we are leaving now!" Roman said across a speaker system.

The train started moving towards the tunnels.

"Well, it sounds like they're going _somewhere_," Yang said.

"We need backup. Let me call Jaune," said Ruby.

Ruby's scroll flashed "Low Signal" as she tried.

"I can't get through!"

"So, what do we do?" asked Weiss.

"I believe we only have one option…" Doctor Oobleck replied.

"We're stopping that train!" declared Ruby, turning around.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

We now stood on top of the train.

"Hurry, children! We must get to the front and stop this train!" Doctor Oobleck said.

"Err... Professor?" Weiss asked.

"Doctor…" Doctor Oobleck corrected.

"What's that?" she asked, pointing down a hatch into the train.

"That my dear... appears to be a bomb," he answered, kneeling down to take a look.

We cringed away from the hatch.

"We've got baddies!" Ruby said, pointing forward on the train.

Dozens of White Fang members were climbing onto the top of the train.

"Well, I didn't expect them to go-" Doctor Oobleck started.

The bomb underneath us charged up and started beeping.

"-easy on us," he finished, standing up. "Time to go!"

As my team and I started running away, Doctor Oobleck stopped Blake.

"Blake! Detach the caboose! It will kill us all!" he said.

"On it," she replied.

Blake jumped down onto the connectors and got ready to cut the connection, but as she did, the connection came loose on its own.

"Huh?"

She looked up at him.

"It decoupled itself!"

"What?!" he replied.

"I guess he _really_ doesn't want us on this train," said Yang.

As Doctor Oobleck looked back at the detached cart, it exploded in the tunnel.

"That's not good…" he said.

"Err, neither is this!" Ruby said, standing next to another open hatch.

"Another bomb?!" Blake replied.

Doctor Oobleck looked around and then ran to the next train car.

"No. No. No," he said.

He opened the hatch and looked in, then yelled back to us: "They _ALL_ have bombs!"

The bomb under us charged up and started beeping and the cart we were on detached itself, forcing us to run to the next cart.

"This doesn't make sense!" Yang said.

More White Fang members climbed the train.

"Get the Humans!" one of them yelled.

We jumped forward to attack the incoming White Fang members.

"He's leading Grimm to the city!" Doctor Oobleck yelled to us as we finished.

"What?" Weiss replied.

"It's the cars! They detach and explode, creating openings for the Grimm!"

"That's insane!" Blake replied.

Another train car detached itself.

"We have to hurry!" he said. "You four, go below and try to stop those bombs!"

"What about us?" Ruby asked.

"We're going to stop this train."

"Yeah, I know. I said that earlier."

As we moved forward, Weiss, Blake, Yang and I dropped inside one of the train cars.

"I guess this is what we trained for," Yang said.

Weiss then reached into her pouch and gave Blake a magazine filled with Dust vials.

"Here, this should help you," she said.

Blake slid the mag into Gambol Shroud, and we charged forward.

Suddenly, we were stopped when Neo dropped from the ceiling and stood in our way.

"You three go on ahead. This one's mine," Yang said.

Blake and Weiss proceeded forward and I didn't follow.

As Neo prepared for their attack, Yang fired a round to distract her, allowing Blake and Weiss to continue.

She looked over her shoulder at me and didn't seem to mind that I stayed.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to interfere," I assured.

Yang then stepped forward toward her opponent, staring down as Neo gave a sinister smile. The two began their fight as I sat on a metal container.

Yang tightened her fist, and threw a simple forward punch towards Neo's face, which was deflected with an illusion from Neo, causing Yang to stumble back. Neo opened her parasol and waited for Yang to strike.

Yang dashed forward, unleashing a flurry of several punches, resetting each time instead of redirecting her blows, as Neo simply dodged each attack, moving her body swiftly in order to avoid them in a very laid back, but extremely effective style. With every unsuccessful punch, elbow, and kick, Yang continued moving forward as her last three blows bring her to a knee, where she attempted a roundhouse kick, allowing Neo to deliver a spinning hook kick, knocking Yang to the ground, the former's guard completely open on the left side.

While on the ground, Yang growled in anger, to which Neo responded by performing a drop kick. However, Yang dodged by rolling away, and subsequently sprung up to attack once again.

Neo countered through a pull in redirection of force technique, pulling Yang's arm in with her own left arm, and performed a well-executed ax kick to hit Yang on the chin, before kicking her in the stomach with a perfect side kick. Neo then began pushing Yang back via her parasol, now on the offensive, as Yang tried to counter her movements with Ember Celica. Neo was able to effortlessly push Yang back against a wall, until the latter shot a blast directly toward the former's feet. Neo, however, simply backflipped effortlessly, and she landed perfectly on the same metal container next to me, before sitting, waiting for Yang's next attack.

As Yang approached her, Neo smiled, taunting her, before Yang unleashed another attack. Neo countered, I backflipped away, and began kicking Yang back. Yang unleashed another blast from Ember Celica, which Neo blocked. The two sparred briefly, hand to hand, before Yang grabbed Neo's foot, and pulled her closer to throw her, only for Neo to perfectly counter, before grappling Yang and using her momentum to throw her into the ceiling, knocking her unconscious.

I started walking forward as Neo slowly approached Yang and pulled out the blade from her parasol. As Neo raised the blade, ready to kill Yang, I ran toward her but suddenly a mysterious masked lady clothed in black and red deflected the blow and pulled out her weapon, intimidating Neo to the point where she backed off and teleports away.

I recognized her and started to back away, unsure if I should do the same as Neo.

The swordswoman looked down at the still unconscious Yang and slashed her sword to the side to open a red portal of some sorts. She walked away from Yang and I and into the portal. As this happened, Yang regained some consciousness and slowly got back up.

The swordswoman looked over her shoulder at me but went into the portal and disappeared.

Yang rubbed her head, probably still reeling from her unconsciousness, before standing up and leaving the scene as I followed.

"So you were this strong? You don't look like it though," she said.

"I had to hold back at times," I replied with a sigh.

We regrouped with the two others and rejoined our leader.

Ruby had a worried face as the fast-approaching train was about to make a head-on collision with a heavy duty wall up ahead.

"What do we do?" asked Blake.

Ruby and Weiss smiled at each other, and the latter forms an ice shield to protect us, bracing ourselves for the impending crash. The train crashed into the wall and we were back in somewhere.

The sound of an emergency alarm went off.

Blake and Yang were slowly getting up from the ground and Yang coughed as the dust settled.

Weiss was sitting up against a large piece of debris and gave our leader a thumbs up to assure her.

Ruby looked over at me as I left myself laying on the ground.

To assure her, I gave her a wink that turned my eye mint green.

We then noticed, much to our worry, that we had returned to the central part of Vale, and multiple civilians in the area noticed us among the debris. I then heard the sound of low rumbles and growls from behind me. Suddenly, a giant King Taijitu emerged from the hole, and multiple Grimm started pouring into Vale.

The civilians screamed as they attempted to flee the chaos. The sounds of screams and roars fill the air, and all what we could do was watch in horror. Ruby's expression changed from worried and scared to angry and determined.

Fast-typing, I sent Cinder a report.

_We apparently ran into Roman and he apparently had the train start early. I'm sure you can hear the sirens right now. What will you and those two do?_

* * *

N/A: What should I do after the final chapter? Write some side-stories? Setting that aside, I've wanted to ask you guys if you want Moni to be shipped with someone. If you'd like to, leave a review on who you want Moni to be with. It can be Yuri or incest if you want as well 'cause I don't mind. Depending on the votes, I'll see who I'll pair her up with. I might keep her single though by the way. So, see you in the final chapter of the main storyline!


	8. Chapter 12-13 Volume 2

N/A: Finally done! This one's not so much though. Let's see, I think I might go for the incest...

* * *

Chapter 12: Breach

We were surrounded in the middle of the pavilion by Beowolves, Ursai, and a massive King Taijitu.

The King Taijitu unleashed a mighty roar, signalling the Grimm to attack.

Surrounded by some Beowolves, they jumped in for me but I created an illusion and teleported away. You could almost say I did the same trick as Blake.

I stabbed one of them and another jumped at me again. Without looking, I pulled the trigger when I aimed at its face. Kicking one away, I stabbed it.

Once I was finished, an Ursa approached me and I backflipped to dodge its attack. Stabbing it in the throat, it wasn't enough. Repeatedly shooting it, it finally died.

Finally getting back up, Team JNPR arrived.

I eventually lost count of how many I killed as I kept going.

We looked up as a fleet coming from the Atlesian Military, consisting of dropships deployed Atlesian Knight-200 units and the flagship of James Ironwood.

As the robotic Knights deploy, they start gunning down the Grimm.

I saw Cinder and she nodded her head at Emerald and Mercury, signalling the two to attack the Grimm as she walked off.

We all continued our fight.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

"Well, we did it," Yang said after we finished.  
"We did it," Blake replied.  
"If we don't get extra credit for that, I'm gonna be seriously disappointed," Weiss said.

"Weiss, a two-headed snake literally crushed a bakery. I wouldn't count on it," replied Yang.

"We also crashed our way back here," I said.

"Yeah, that too."

"Plus, I mean, we didn't solve everything. A lot of people were hurt, and we still don't

even know why they did this, or who that mystery girl was," Ruby said.  
"Well, not every story has a neat and tidy ending," Weiss replied.

"Like a fairytale with a happy ending," I commented.  
"We might not have all the answers, but we do have a lot of dangerous people behind bars. And I think that's something we could be proud of," Blake said.  
"Yeah! And if anyone tries something like this again, we'll be there to stop them," Ruby replied.

"Don't forget the others too," I said.

"Yay, teamwork, camaraderie, good guys, go team, alright, good job... So, what now?" asked Yang.

"I suggest training for the tournament, but I guess we have that covered at this point," Weiss replied.

"So then..." Blake said.

"Uhh... Time for bed?" suggested Ruby.

"Please," Yang replied.

"Absolutely" Blake said.

"Yes," Weiss said.

"Totally need it right now after a sleepless night," I said.

"I'm going to sleep forever," Yang said.

"Until you get kissed by a boy?" I asked.

"Maaaaaybe," Yang replied, laughing.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

I couldn't sleep at all even though I was exhausted because I was worried about Neo.

Where was she?

Was she okay?

I got out of bed and tiptoed out of the dorm room as the others slept comfortably.

Hoping hard that Neo would be at the warehouse, I went there.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

When I arrived there, there was only two people there; Neo and Cinder. The others were probably outside making sure no one interrupted.

"Why? Why did you escape?" Cinder questioned, her tone having a little anger in it.

"I-I'm sorry! It won't happen again!" Neo typed on her scroll.

"I took in you and your older twin sister because I could see talent in both of your eyes. You've just made me feel as if I should've just taken Moni only," Cinder said. "This wouldn't have happened in the first place if you escaped!"

Just when she was about to hit Neo, I jumped in instinctively and blocked her hit by holding up my umbrella.

"Our relationship…. it's over," I said.

"Go ahead then! Both of you are now our enemy so don't forget that."

"We won't, Cinder."

She walked out, hands clenched and probably angered that I decided to cut off all ties to her with Neo.

"I'm sorry, Neo, but I didn't have a choice."

She shook her head and her eyes told me, "At least by bodyguard job is over. Where are we going?"

"To tell the truth to Ozpin."

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Chapter 13: Ice Cream Twins

"Is that everything?" Headmaster Ozpin asked.

"Yes," I responded, hoping as hard as I could that he wouldn't turn us in.

"Then, welcome to the brighter side."

My eyes widened with Neo's.

"What?"

"I don't understand," Neo typed on her scroll and showed it to him. "Why?"

"You two deserve a second chance in life," he replied to us.

"Thank you, Headmaster Ozpin," I said. "I promise that you didn't make a mistake."

"Carry on now, girls. You should tell this to your team."

I nodded and took Neo to the dorm room.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

"Okay, you guys better promise to not get hostile towards the person I'm introducing to you, okay?" I asked.

"We all promise!" Ruby replied.

"Come on now," I whispered to Neo, who was behind me.

She slowly peered at them shyly and jaws dropped and eyes went wide.

"You?!" Yang yelled.

She nearly landed a blow on Neo but Neo teleported to the right of the room.

"I thought I said you couldn't be hostile!" I said.

"She almost killed me!"

"Calm down! I know that she almost did, but it's time for you to change your views on her!"

Slowly, Yang calmed down and I smiled nervously.

"Why don't you introduce yourself?" I told Neo.

She took out her scroll and typed: "M-My name is Neo. I'm sorry I almost killed you, Yang. Sometimes I can't control myself."

"How come she doesn't speak?" Ruby asked.

"She's a mute," I responded.

"Ohhh."

"We're still unsure about her though," Weiss said.

"I don't know if I can trust a girl who made our plan fail back then," Blake said.

I sighed.

"She'll gain your trust. Just think of her as me. We're basically the same anyways, just slightly different."

"That reminds of two someones I fought back then, but different," Yang said.

"Well, Neo, it's nice to meet you!" Ruby said, being friendly as usual and offering a handshake.

Neo smiled and shook her hand. She turned her attention to Weiss.

"You must be Weiss Schnee," Neo typed on her scroll.

"Did Moni tell you who I was?" Weiss asked.

"Yes, but I'm actually a fan of your singing."

Weiss blushed lightly, seemingly embarrassed that she used to be a singer.

"You were a singer?" Ruby asked.

"It's a long story," Weiss replied.

"I guess Neo is our new teammate and friend?" Blake asked.

"Yes," I answered.

"I, no, we promise that we cutted off all ties with the people we worked for, so you don't have to worry about us being spies or anything," Neo typed.

"Welcome to the team then, Neo," our leader said.

I smiled at Neo and she smiled back at me.

"I'm still not so sure about you though!" Weiss said.

"Don't worry, I'll be sure to have you trust me," Neo typed with a nervous smile.

N/A: So, I guess it's Team RWBYSN? Anyways, I found two words I'm pending on for the new team name. First one is Snowberry but then the leader's first letter has to be first. Second one is Ruby Spinel. Next up is a side-story with two different pieces for Valentines' Day!


	9. Henceforward Chapter 1: About That Day

N/A: So... because I suck at creating my own storylines, I'm gonna move onto Henceforward. This AU doesn't belong to me but belongs to Kumafromtaiwan. These "special" chapters will stay in this until Volume 3 comes out.

* * *

Impaling a Faunus in the throat, I searched through the crowd for my teammates and heard a familiar voice yell.

"Ruby! Are you crazy!?" I heard Weiss yell.

I looked over to Ruby, Blake and Weiss, who was on the ground.

We were currently at Weiss' inheriting ceremony and a few Faunus interrupted the delightful banquet that had now become bloodshed.

"Blake, aren't we teammates!?" Ruby asked, confronting Blake. "You can tell me if you have anything troubling you! Please... We can help! No need to fight —"

I teleported myself to Ruby and pushed her out of the way as Blake came close to her.

"We NEED to fight," she said.

The sharp pain of being impaled by Gambol Shroud was worth it. It was to protect Ruby, after all.

I dropped to the ground as I loss blood and fell unconscious.

* * *

After Moni had fallen unconscious, Yang finally arrived to the scene as Weiss panicked.

"Moni! Damn it! Moni!" Weiss called. "Can you hear me?! Damn it! Just say something you dolt! Please... Moni!"

Ruby panicked as well and shook her teammate.

"No... This can't be happening... Please... Wake up Moni!" she pleaded with tears in her eyes.

"...What happened?" Yang finally spoke.

Blake looked at her partner, Moni's blood splattered on her cheek.

"What the hell happened...!"

Seeing her teammate dying, Yang became insane and attacked Blake madly, desiring to kill her immediately. Without a weapon, Blake almost died.

"BLAAAKE I'LL KILL YOUUUU!" Yang yelled as she strangled Blake with one hand hard and burned fiercely.

Blake coughed out blood and Yang prepared to land a hit that would kill Blake. But before she could, she had a quick flashback of the good times. Landing the hit, like a bomb, an explosion of flames happened. Ruby and Weiss protected their dying teammate.

Instead of killing Blake, Yang hit the spot next to her head.

"No...!" Yang said, in tears. "I can't... I can't fucking do it!"

Afterwards, Blake escaped thanks to Yang's mercy and henceforward, Team RWBYS no longer existed.

* * *

Ruby sat next to Moni's bed and held her hand.

She was the only one who wasn't wounded but if it wasn't for her being vulnerable, this wouldn't have had to happen to one of her teammates.

"I'm so sorry Moni... I'm really sorry... I should've been a better leader..." Ruby said.

Yang and Weiss entered the room.

"How is she?" Yang asked. "She hasn't woken up yet," Ruby replied. "It's just nice for her to survive..." Weiss said as she looked at her sleeping teammate. "Yeah, a miracle!" Yang replied. "And just stuck in the point that doesn't affect the nervous system. It'll still affect her body more or less though... But anything's better than death," Ruby explained.

"Your survival is our greatest comfort..." Yang said, about to stroke Moni's hair. "So proud of you, Moni..." But then she stopped when she saw Ruby's expression: it was filled with regret and fault.

"How about you?" Weiss asked Yang. "Your arms... Will they heal?"

"This?" Yang replied, waving her hand. "No worry~. I can still live with it. Just can't wear Ember Celica anymore. Oops, I burned my arms 'cause I lost control? Reckless, huh?"

Weiss turned away.

"But I'm alright, it's not —"

"_I will let her pay._"

"Weiss..." Ruby said as Weiss drew near.

Weiss stroked Moni's forehead as she thought about her mistake the other day.

* * *

After discovering what Yang did, Weiss entered Moni's hospital room to tell the two about the news.

Ruby, who was there, and Moni looked at her.

"Weiss...?" Ruby said.

* * *

"It's a miracle!" the doctor said. "Nerves were cut through, but the fragment just merged into the nerves. You still need to have some medical examinations and it'll take a long time to recover. But don't worry, your life is in no danger."

I looked at my scar when she finished talking.

"Excuse me..." Ruby said. "Yes?" the doctor asked. "I have a question..." Ruby replied. "Is Moni still able to become a Hun—"

"NO WAY!" Weiss interrupted.

"Weiss..." Ruby said.

"Don't you understand?" Weiss replied. "Although the fragment and the nerves merged together, it doesn't mean Moni's reflex nerves are undamaged. Plus, her spine can't take any impact!"

"But..."

"Now she may even get hurt by just lifting something heavier!"

The doctor left, saying, "I gotta go. Bye."

"Ruby, I'll be fine if I can't become a Huntress," I finally spoke with a nervous smile. "Unlike you, I'm not really determined to become one."

"But Moni..." Ruby said. "This is all my fault. I wasn't a reliable team leader, and that's why Blake didn't even tell me a word about that... And I didn't notice her abnormality either... I was vulnerable at that point that you jumped in to save me and now you're like this... I was weak and let Yang down... She became a wanted 'cause I pushed her indirectly..."

She looked down at the floor and continued talking.

"As a team leader, all I can do is worry and let others do the job... How could I pretend nothing happened and live happily as before..."

"Ruby..." I softly said.

Weiss suddenly grabbed Ruby and started yelling.

"You dolt! Fool! Idiot! Do you think... think that you're the only one feeling sad for their leaving?!"

She put a hand to my shoulder.

"I don't want to lose anyone else... You're both my everything now...! So..."

Ruby and I simultaneously began to tear up at her words and Weiss soon did the same as us as well.

"I don't want to... lose you both...!"

Then we group hugged with sadness and pain.

"Sorry..." Ruby said. "Sorry... I shouldn't have said these disheartening words... I'm so sorry... Please don't cry..."

"I don't want to lose you both either..." I said.

The two wiped their tears away and both wiped mine away.

* * *

After those days, the only one to graduate was Weiss from our broken team.

Ruby somehow failed the exam but her excuse to me was:

"I'm not going to graduate without you!"

"Weiss~!" Ruby called as she pushed me on a wheelchair. "Congratulations~!"

I smiled nervously as we drew attention.

"You dunce! I've already told you a thousand times to stay with Moni at our dorm! Why're you so stubborn!" she yelled. "But today is your graduation ceremony..." Ruby replied. "I've told you, it's just a ceremony! Don't you know Moni's still at the risk of paralyzation?!" the heiress said. "But I don't like sitting forever..." Ruby replied. "Weiss, just be happy that we gave you our congratulations," I said. "Rather than congratulating me, Ruby, I prefer you to think about your own problems like, **CREDITS**!" Weiss said. "Aww," Ruby replied. "I'm sure you'll do better, Ruby," I said.

* * *

_Seven years later…_

"Are we seriously going to do it?" I asked. "Come on~! It'll be fun!" Ruby replied. I sighed and snapped my fingers.

A large Ursa appeared in midair and fell, crashing into the Schnee Dust Company.

"It's not my fault if someone gets injured or dies though," I said. She only smiled playfully and I teleported us to Weiss' room.

As expected, Weiss arrived from her meeting.

"Ruby, you did it right?" she asked. "Haha. It was actually Moni though," Ruby replied, revealing herself. "It was her plan," I defensively said. "Except you, who else would do such an absurd thing like dropping a Grimm from above," Weiss said to Ruby. "Oh~?" the red girl replied. "NOT like 'Oh~'!" the new CEO of SDC said, flicking Ruby's forehead. "Ouch!" Ruby said.

"Don't you know how dangerous it is?! What if I couldn't control the situation?! Have you ever thought about that?!"

"Hmm~ of course I have!"

"That's only because I said that earlier," I said. "Okay, fine. You got me on that Moni," Ruby replied. "Anyways, so suppose you could handle it, right?" Weiss turned away and three dust crystals sprouted from her shoulder. "Yeah..."

"Feel shy~?" Ruby asked. "NO!" Weiss replied, more dust crystals sprouting. "You can always tell us~," I teased. Weiss flicked both of our heads. "Ouch!"

We sat on the couch and had tea together as Ruby explained the story.

"Then I asked the aristocrat for LOADS~of~roses~," Ruby said. "His dumb face was soooo funny!"

"So why roses... Forget it, I'll never understand your taste," Weiss replied. "Like that ripped curtain in the dorm."

"Isn't it because Ruby has a thing for roses?" I said. "I suppose so," Weiss replied. "Also, that curtain gave me lots of pricks from sewing it back together!" I complained. "Haha. But it's cool, right?" Ruby said. "Nope, it can't be more silly," Weiss replied. "Ruby."

"Yes?"

"... Still want to continue your travel? Must you... find her?"

Ruby stared for a moment with a smile before falling into my lap.

"Weiss~... You know my answer don't you? If I don't find her, I'll never rest in peace. It's not only what I want to do... But also a team leader's duty."

I stroked her hair as she prayed and Weiss finished her tea.

"Since graduation, you're not the leader anymore, dolt," Weiss replied. "Now that I'm —"

"We're," I corrected.

Weiss cleared her throat and continued.

"Right. Now that we're the best teammates, we will help you. Keep that in mind."

Ruby looked at us both and said, "Thank you. Weiss, Moni."

* * *

N/A: I almost forgot to recommend you go check out Kumafromtaiwan. You can go check out those Henceforward chapters too. Currently waiting on chapter 18! See you in the next!


	10. Henceforward Chapter 2

N/A: It's finally done! *drops onto keyboard and gets back up* The Dude Strikes Back, I'm having a little of some... problems here, so I'll see if I can try to check it out. Words and letters, I fixed it. When I saw your review, I went back to check and I was like, "Whoops! I forgot about that!" Anyways, that took place at Weiss' inheriting ceremony!

* * *

"So... You want a passport to the refugee camp in the west?" Weiss asked. "Yep," Ruby replied, taking bite of her cake.

"You really want to go? But your identity... It's just a bit awkward for you to get in there."

"That's okay. The mission's the first priority anyways!"

"Says the one who usually breaks the contract?"

"Huehue ❤︎."

"Well I've got an idea, as long as Jaune has no objection... But I don't really want to contact him..."

After the call, she got really mad.

"Bastard! Just a few years, and he's changed this badly!" she yelled, slamming her hands on the table. "And what the hell's that 'Snow Angel'! Obviously it's easy as pie for him but he still wants others to beg him!"

"He actually remembered that nickname?" I asked. She shot me a glare and I raised my hands up defensively. "I won't say it again!"

"Hey stay cool, actually, he's right. I do need his help..." Ruby said.

"Jaune must know your situation, and it'll be awkward if you go there! He's just making things difficult for you deliberately! How could you tell me not to be mad at —"

Ruby kissed her with a "Chu ❤︎," and dust crystals sprouted back up on Weiss.

As usual, it was an awkward moment for me to see the two kiss. It wasn't that they were both girls though, but I think it was mostly because I was just right there. Watching. Or witnessing.

"Hehe ❤︎," Ruby said, sticking her tongue out playfully. "I'll be back soon!"

And with that, she disappeared, leaving only rose petals.

The CEO of the SDC looked at me, who was blushing slightly.

"... Hmph!"

"You're not gonna ask?"

"Ask what?"

"Why I'm not going with Ruby?"

"Why aren't you?"

"She didn't want me to feel her own pain."

Weiss sighed and sat back down next to me. Stroking my hair, she replied, "She's blaming everything on herself, that's for sure."

I gave her a hug, which surprised her.

"I hope we can find Blake and settle this once and for all."

I could tell that she smiled despite the fact that I couldn't see her face.

"So do I."

"Anyways, what's my job gonna be here?" I asked, pulling away.

"Your job is to stay at my side at all times."

"That's no fun, Ice Queen. Oh well. Do you mind if I visit her first?"

She sighed and replied, "Be back safe then."

I smiled and teleported to the location.

_Neo's grave._

* * *

I placed flowers on her grave and prayed.

_How's it going Neo? Are you doing well? It's been a while since your older twin sister visited you. Lots of things happened. Ruby is going to find Yang and we're still looking for Blake. Also, Weiss became the CEO of the Schnee Dust Company. Be a good girl, you hear?_

_... I miss you. A lot._

I smiled with tearful eyes and wiped the tears away.

With a last glance, I left but stopped.

"If you're going to kill me, go ahead. I did kill a Faunus back then," I said to the dark figure behind me.

Blake walked to me, the sounds of her steps getting louder and louder.

By the time she was about to impale me in the neck, I turned around quicker than her speed and she stopped. The kunai was just a few centimeters away from my throat.

"What's wrong?" I asked, some playfulness in my voice. "You've changed," she said, finally speaking. "Why wouldn't I change? I'm twenty-two years old now, you know," I replied. Quickly, I hit the weapon out of her hand with my umbrella and looked at her in the eyes.

"You can't kill me because of Ruby, isn't it? Or is it because you impaled me seven years ago? Or maybe it's because you're afraid to kill your own teammate?" I said. "Stop it," she replied. I smiled smugly, eye changing color. "So strong yet so emotionally weak toward her former teammates..."

I reached for the cat ear that had the small rip and brushed my fingers against it. Her firm stand faltered once.

Turning around, I walked forward and turned back around to look at her for one last time.

"I look forward to seeing you again, Blake," I farewelled with my usual smug expression before teleporting back to the SDC.

* * *

_A few days later..._

"Weiss~!" I said, entering her office. "You've got some more compensation to pay~!"

I handed her the long sheet of paper that said, "Claim for Compensation from Yang Xiao Long."

"She's sent me compensation over and over again," Weiss said. "And I can't find the addresser... No wonder why you don't want me to find you..."

She suddenly made a scary expression and I could tell something bad was on her mind.

"Weiss, you're scaring me," I said.

Then she slumped down and I heard, "Pfff."

I looked behind her, which rose petals started forming and Ruby appeared.

"Pretty sure I'll help you, huh?" Weiss said to herself, not noticing Ruby.

"Of course, I know you always treasure our relationships~," Ruby said, hugging Weiss from behind.

She quickly moved away as dust crystals sprouted on Weiss.

"Ahaha~."

Then I noticed Yang and waved at her. She waved back with that usual smile,

"Ruby!" Weiss yelled. "Don't ever, never —"

That's when she noticed Yang.

"Um... Hi?" Yang said. "Long time no see!"

Weiss froze for a moment and then dust crystals started shooting out of her towards Yang.

I jumped in front of Yang and opened my umbrella to protect her.

"Calm down!" I said, hoping none of the crystals would damage my umbrella.

"After these days, paying back these bills..." Weiss said, finally stopping. "I finally got you ❤︎."

She cracked her knuckles as she said so.

"Ahaha, look at yourself Yang.." Ruby said.

Weiss grabbed her head and said, "How dare you?"

I handed her the paper and she showed it to Ruby.

"Why would I receive your compensation claim?"

"Huehue ❤︎," Ruby said, one eye closed and tongue sticking out playfully. "Huehue," Weiss copied with annoyance, flicking Ruby's forehead. "Aw!"

"Huehue ❤︎," Yang copied. "Huehue ❤︎," Weiss copied, this time with sweetness and conducting Myrtenaster 2.0 to point at Yang's head. "IT'S NOT FAIR!"

I laughed at the three and Weiss flicked my forehead.

"Don't you ever realize how much money I've paid for your recklessness!?" Weiss yelled. "You know, I'm not rich as a wanted~," Yang replied. "Then as a wanted, why do you always make trouble in bars!?" Weiss said. "Okay, stop playing and listen to me~," Ruby said. "Did I look like I was playing around?!" Weiss replied.

"It's been years, I gathered you all here for this task!" Ruby said, showing us an envelope.

After reconciling, the CEO of the SDC and the wanted fugitive fist bumped as Ruby and I happily looked on.

* * *

"Jesus... I've just survived the flight... Then now we're boarding a train again?" Yang said. "Don't complain. There aren't many choices for us to get in the mission area due to its geographical and climate conditions," Weiss replied. "Appreciate your sister."

"No, I can't take it anymore."

Yang climbed up to the roof of the train saying, "Hey!"

"Nice jump!" Ruby said.

"I got used to riding Bumblebee, so it feels better outside. I can just sit here," Yang said.

Her younger sister was about to join her, but was pulled back by the hood by Weiss.

"No way, you get in with me," Weiss said.

Yang smiled and I teleported up next to her as the couple disappeared into the train.

"I thought you weren't the outside type of person," Yang said. "I just thought it'd be better to leave the couple to themselves," I replied. "How's life?" she asked, changing the subject. "Absolutely wonderful. Getting flicked in the forehead everyday by Snow White, getting caught in Little Red Riding Hood's troubles, and trying to find Goldilocks for Snow White," I said, sighing. Yang laughed at my fairytale nicknames for her and them. "And... wondering where Beauty and the Beast is," I finished, my smile wiped off clean. There was only silence then and Yang laid down.

"I'll wake you up till we get there," I said. "Don't let a prince kiss me though," Yang jokingly replied. "I won't. Unless you sleep forever, that is," I said. She fell asleep faster than I thought and I covered her and myself from the shining sun with my umbrella.

By the time we got there, I woke her up.

"We're here," I said. "How could you fall asleep on top of a running train..." Weiss mumbled, on top of the train with us along with Ruby. "Good morning!" Yang exclaimed, putting her arms around us. "My dear companions!"

* * *

"Weiss, what's up?" Ruby asked, looking at Weiss, who was behind us.

We were walking to the location of our task.

"... Nothing," Weiss replied. "Just wondering what on earth is wrong with my brain that I even agreed to go on this task with you."

"Awww c'mon, don't say that~."

"But seriously..." Yang said. "This task is such a hot potato..."

"That nobody wants to take it," Weiss finished. "Yeah, thanks for your sister again."

"So this is Hell, hm?" I said. "Doesn't seem so... 'hellish'."

As expected, no one laughed. But I didn't care. What worried me, was what was going to happen while we were here.

* * *

N/A: I can barely wait for the next chapter! But I must wait! See ya in the next!


End file.
